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Every Shop My wife went to said you can't buy apps with itunes card-is this correct?

L

LiveForever

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 13, 2007
281
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I hinted to my wife that a good present 'may' be an itunes card so I could buy apps for my iphone.

However EVERY store she went in today who sold itunes cards said they could not be used to purchase apps.

Is this correct?

There seems to be total confusion about this with retailers (JB Hifi, Dick Smith, KMart, target etc etc) . There is no mention on the itunes cards that they can be used for buying apps, just music.

If they can be used for apps then apple are probably loosing heaps of itunes cards sales which results in loss of app sales.

Please could someone clarify what the position is as I really don't know.

Yes, I know there is a similar thread but this obviously highlights a big error on apples parts in not communicating whether an itunes card can be used for purchasing apps. The other thread is asking what apps to buy not specifically asking about itunes cards.

This will be a common present for iphone owners but are retailers stopping sales inadvertently or are they correct?
 
Well apple is clearly at fault for not communicating that apps can be purchased with an itunes card.

After all the cards show the silhouette figure wearing an ipod and only mention music, not apps.

It's not really the retailers fault as they are acting in good faith and just "reading what is on the box"

We can't do the tut, these non apple fans hey how stupid sigh here.. Stores have 100's of products to sell so they must be given clear non ambiguous information.

Major major boo boo by apple here and they are probably loosing 1000's of potential sales. There is also that other thread so there seems to be wide spread confusion about this.

The itunes card should be re designed so it clearly mentions iphone and touch apps.
 
LiveForever said:
Well apple is clearly at fault for not communicating that apps can be purchased with an itunes card.

After all the cards show the silhouette figure wearing an ipod and only mention music, not apps.

It's not really the retailers fault as they are acting in good faith and just "reading what is on the box"

Major major boo boo by apple here and they are probably loosing 1000's of potential sales. There is also that other thread so there seems to be wide spread confusion about this.

The itunes card should be re designed so it clearly mentions iphone and touch apps.
Click to expand...

Not really. iTunes is iTunes is iTunes. Anyone who is intelligent enough to know that apps can be purchased is intelligent enough to know that the money added to your account is not partitioned and is intelligent enough to know that any means of getting money into the store is good enough.
 
I have used many itunes gift cards towards the purchase of apps!

No issues at all! And I told my family as well, that if they don't know
what to get me, the itunes gift card is perfect!
 
Yes, i told my wife that I wanted an itunes card to buy apps.

She went to stores which sold them and said can I buy a card so my husband can buy apps for his iphone. They ALL said no this wasn't the case. They were trying to stop her wasting her money and thought they were acting in good faith.

We are avid apple devotees and know the ins and outs of the itunes store but sorry it's not reasonable to expect "normal people" who aren't obsessed with apple like us (well I admit I am) to know.

All I'm saying is apple has a problem in that it's loosing potential sales here. Nothing to do with intelligence. A store worker could be a 15 year old kid or a 45 year old mum. They won't all know because many won't use itunes. If it just says music then what should they believe?

apple should sort it out.

This is very un apple as they usually communicate their products and services brilliantly.
 
This has little to do with intelligence in the first place. It's simply a matter of common sense. It's not really Apple's fault. If anything, a store employee should just say "I don't know" if they don't know. Stating things as fact when you are knowingly uninformed is not what I'd call intelligent. Just my two cents on that matter. At any rate, I've used a few gift cards on apps and videos, and it works just fine.
 
Actually, technically speaking, those stores are right... if they are talking about downloading Apps vs. Music directly from your iPhone that is.

With the iTunes Music Store you can click on the "Redeem" button and enter your Gift Card number to download music, but for the App store, you cannot.

So, though you can do this all through iTunes on your computer, the instant the stores say "sure, it will work for apps" they will get tons of people complaining "Well I tried to use the gift card on my iPhone and it won't work for apps!" which is why they just say "only for Music, videos, etc... not apps."
 
I have used an iTunes gift card to buy apps. The money in your iTunes account can be used for all the stuff that is sold on iTunes.
 
SlapMonkey said:
Actually, technically speaking, those stores are right... if they are talking about downloading Apps vs. Music directly from your iPhone that is.

With the iTunes Music Store you can click on the "Redeem" button and enter your Gift Card number to download music, but for the App store, you cannot.

So, though you can do this all through iTunes on your computer, the instant the stores say "sure, it will work for apps" they will get tons of people complaining "Well I tried to use the gift card on my iPhone and it won't work for apps!" which is why they just say "only for Music, videos, etc... not apps."
Click to expand...

SnakeD77 said:
I have used an iTunes gift card to buy apps. The money in your iTunes account can be used for all the stuff that is sold on iTunes.
Click to expand...

But again, as I've stated just above your post, you cannot use a gift card directly from the iPhone for apps (music only) which is why the stores are playing it safe and saying that the card does not work for apps.
 
SlapMonkey said:
But again, as I've stated just above your post, you cannot use a gift card directly from the iPhone for apps (music only) which is why the stores are playing it safe and saying that the card does not work for apps.
Click to expand...

But once a card is activated in your account and you have a balance, you CAN purchase apps from your iPhone.
 
Is there a chance she forgot or just doesn't want you playing with your phone all day? Do you have an addiction? I won't judge, I promise.

BTW, can you redeem codes over 3G? I tried a few weeks ago and nothing happened. The page just kept reloading.
 
Bobioden said:
But once a card is activated in your account and you have a balance, you CAN purchase from your iPhone.
Click to expand...

I personally have never used the iTunes Gift card, so unless they activate this in the store, or I am missing something, then you are missing my point:

If someone who doesn't know how all this works (the average person asking on these forums such as the OP) were to walk into a store and say "I want to buy an iTunes Gift Card so my husband can download apps" (Just as the OP stated) and that store were to say, "Sure, here you go" and then that husband, while on the road, opens up his pretty envelope for the first time, takes out his iTunes Gift Card and his iPhone and attempts to use it to buy an app, he would be Sh*t-Out-of-Luck (unless, again, they activate this and load them directly to your account at these stores.)

MacBoobsPro said:
Its an 'iTunes' card. Not a 'music only from iTunes' card.
Click to expand...

I guess you didn't bother to actually read my posts... My whole point is, the stores are playing safe to say no it won't work because they KNOW that people will try to use it directly from their iPhone without activating it then come back to the stores and complain about it not working!
 
Enter iTunes Wifi Store. Redeem the code. Exit. Open App Store. Purchase Fart apps with the money you just redeemed to your account.
 
ying yang said:
Enter iTunes Wifi Store. Redeem the code. Exit. Open App Store. Purchase Fart apps with the money you just redeemed to your account.
Click to expand...

Sorry but there is no way a store like Kmart is going to train some 16 year old part time employee to explain those steps (which are easy enough for use to read here) to the average person knowing that somewhere along the line they will get it wrong, so it's just easier for them to say "no, only works for Music."

Some of you just aren't using your Critical Thinking skills today are you... :rolleyes:

So to the OP, yes, there are various ways you can use the iTunes Music Gift card to download apps, yes, the stores told you no for a reason (not because they were being dumb, but to prevent the dumb people that will come back and complain.)
 
SlapMonkey said:
I guess you didn't bother to actually read my posts... My whole point is, the stores are playing safe to say no it won't work because they KNOW that people will try to use it directly from their iPhone without activating it then come back to the stores and complain about it not working!
Click to expand...

I did read them yes. My point is that its common sense that the iTunes Giftcard is for all things iTunes. So its not Apples fault that they haven't slapped 'NOW INCLUDES APP DOWNLOADS' on their cards.

By playing safe retailers are losing sales. ;)
 
ying yang said:
Enter iTunes Wifi Store. Redeem the code. Exit. Open App Store. Purchase Fart apps with the money you just redeemed to your account.
Click to expand...

SlapMonkey said:
Some of you just aren't using your Critical Thinking skills today are you... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

And some of you just aren't able to put your egos aside... :rolleyes:

Why do you feel the need to insult someone who is simply explaining how to download apps from your phone using an iTunes gift card? That's actual useful information for some people on here. The person was neither agreeing OR disagreeing with your earlier statement -- simply pointing out a workaround. Sheesh.

Who cares what store employees know or don't know, or what's common sense and what isn't -- the other point the OP was making is still correct: Apple is NOT making it easy to know what the iTunes gift cards can and cannot work for. The solution is pretty simple, but falls on Apple to make the necessary changes. Like the OP said, they are probably losing money in the end. There are most-likely people who have tried to get cards for other people who buy a lot of apps, and were told they can't use them -- and so those people just bought something else....
 
MacBoobsPro said:
I did read them yes. My point is that its common sense that the iTunes Giftcard is for all things iTunes. So its not Apples fault that they haven't slapped 'NOW INCLUDES APP DOWNLOADS' on their cards.

By playing safe retailers are losing sales. ;)
Click to expand...

But yet again, you obviously haven't read or at least comprehended my posts... you say it's common sense that you can use the iTunes Gift card for all things iTunes and the stores are saying you can't, because, YOU CAN'T! When using it directly from your iPhone the way many people will try to. THAT was my only point... To explain why the stores are saying "no it won't work for apps" because, it won't for the way a lot of average people will try to use it, which is to purchase it, open up the app store on their iPhones, and then scratch their heads wondering where to put in the gift card code/number (you also can't gift apps to people the way you can with music, in case you didn't know.)

Again, it's not Apple's fault or the stores fault because YOU CAN'T use it for Apps directly from your iPhone via the App store by default. Only through the iTunes WiFi Music store or from iTunes on your computer. Geez, I don't know how many more times I have to explain it to get it into your thick skulls!

Rojo said:
And some of you just aren't able to put your egos aside... :rolleyes:

Why do you feel the need to insult someone who is simply explaining how to download apps from your phone using an iTunes gift card? That's actual useful information for some people on here. The person was neither agreeing OR disagreeing with your earlier statement -- simply pointing out a workaround. Sheesh.

Who cares what store employees know or don't know, or what's common sense and what isn't -- the other point the OP was making is still correct: Apple is NOT making it easy to know what the iTunes gift cards can and cannot work for. The solution is pretty simple, but falls on Apple to make the necessary changes. Like the OP said, they are probably losing money in the end. There are most-likely people who have tried to get cards for other people who buy a lot of apps, and were told they can't use them -- and so those people just bought something else....
Click to expand...

And if you read my response to MacBoobsPro above, you'll see exactly why I made that statement. It's not about ego, it's about people on these forums continually making assumptions and calling other (people, stores, employees, etc.) idiots while not actually comprehending the various possible reasons why they are being told something such as "the cards won't work for apps".

But I do apologize if I was being harsh, as I said, I was having a bad morning...
 
I know exactly what you are saying and I don't see it as harsh, you are trying to get your point across but feel you are not. :)

My point is (and after this I will leave it alone :D ) is that it is possible to do what the stores say you can't. Because you can't do it directly on your phone doesnt mean you can't use gift cards to buy apps.

The fact that its called an iTunes Gift Card means that it encompasses all things iTunes (apps included) and so doesn't not need a new card to promote the fact that apps are now included.

Its like having a Blockbuster card. They don't advertise 'now includes video games' because its all part of Blockbuster.
 
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