Friday, April 23, 2010

App stores and instapaper

This is so f***ing messed up... it seems Apple has just started using IPs to close off the US app store to the rest of the world.
For one thing, at the moment the app store app on the pad just quits, it does not even redirect me to the UK store.
But that's the least of it. I have bought tons of stuff in the US store, and it seems some of it I can't use now.
It gets worse: some of it, for god knows what reason, is not even available in the UK app store. I can't even pay again for Instapaper there, and get a working version!
Instapaper was my favorite app, what am I gonna do!

... Also, at the moment, Instapaper is incapacitated, it is stuck in the middle of an update, which it seems it can't complete since the app store suddenly closed. I'm very irritated.

Update: I also went through the various update procedures in the iTunes app on the Mac, and this may actually have done the trick! It seems Instapaper is updated. I hope it keeps.

3 comments:

kurumi said...

Why become a prisoner to Apple's very abusive customer treatment?

I will not use any closed software anymore because of these abuses.

What is the use of such nice hardware if the software is so locked down?

That is why I will buy a nokia n900 but not anything from apple...

Cheers!

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

It's usually not Apple's fault, it's because on the stupid restrictions of international commerce. You're not just allowed to go into a country and sell anything, somebody else is likely to have a contract for it.

Anyway, Apple has by far the best overall experience, and it's quite rare that that I have any downsides to it, much less important ones.

foerr said...

I don't want to be a Job's Comforter, but:

• The US iTunes store terms:

"U.S. SALES ONLY

"Purchases or rentals (as applicable) from the iTunes Store are available to you only in the United States, its territories, and possessions, and are not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the iTunes Store from outside of the available territory. Apple may use technologies to verify such compliance."

http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html

You may be outraged, irritated, furious etc and a wide range of other emotional reactions, but if you break a legally binding agreement, what recourse can you possibly have? Without doubt you were already aware of that... just saying.

• More practically: getting a download stuck in the queue (as you seem to have done) sometimes requires Apple tech support to delete and reapply the download data (rather like like the local print queue problem).

• The only source I can find for the IP sniffing claim is you!

"...it seems Apple has just started using IPs to close off the US app store to the rest of the world."

Firstly, well done on being a Google hotshot with top answer, impressively spidered almost instantly. Secondly, was this a wild, unsubstantiated, knee-jerk guess, springing from your guilt about your illegal activities (it's not a flame, it's a joke) or are you able to point to an authoritative source? Other members of the criminal fraternity need to know.

PS: I see as I try to publish that you have stopped waving your arms and wringing your hands (not at the same time, of course) and the deep breathing and successful download seem to have restored Serenity Now. The stuck download queue tip is worth remembering.