Guyssss I've got a bit of a problem.... CDN iTunes account versus US iPhone!

[foreignconcepts]

I'm a Canadian living in the US for a few months. After a few weeks of watching my Canadian cell phone rack up the roaming charges, I realized I had to do something about cell phone use. After some twisting of AT&T's corporate arm (and bartering my soul in the form of a $500 deposit - ouch!), I am now in possession of an iPhone.

I have one small problem. I have a Canadian iTunes account, and after signing into the App store, and promptly getting bounced to the Canadian store, I tried to download Facebook Mobile and MySpace mobile (both free applications). Both times, at the point of installation, I got a message saying that the apps "would not work with this iPhone", and the installation was canceled.

I'm worried that this is a discrepancy between the US iPhone and the Canadian iTunes store account. Should this be a problem? I'm connecting my iPhone to iTunes now, and it's asking me to register the unit. Right now I have 2 choices: I can sign into my Canadian account and register, or I can redeem a coupon and create a US iTunes account with no billing info, and just buy the iTunes money cards when I want something. Is it wiser to do the latter?

I realize that this is probably somewhat if a unique situation - the only support articles I've found online are for those who want the wider selection offered in the US iTunes store without actually living in the US.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated,

Sarah

 

[pisces03x]

Considering you're only going to be living in the US for a few months, I suggest sign up with a Canadian account.

What I do: I have two different iTunes accounts - one Canadian and one American. The iPhone is registered under my Canadian account, but both are authorized to my PC.
Whenever I want to buy American content, I buy a US card and charge that account. I buy what I want, and it automatically syncs to my iPhone.

 

[ClassicBean]

Not sure if this answers your question but your iPhone will be associated with the last account you logged into through iTunes while the iPhone was connected. So if you're logged into MyCanadianiTunesAccount, then try and download something from the iPhone later on using your MyUSiTunesAccount account details, it won't let you since the iPhone is already associated with the Canadian store and your Canucklehead account. You'd need to go back into iTunes, connect your iPhone, sign out of the Canadian store, back into the US store, and then you should be good to go.

 

[foreignconcepts]

Thank you ClassicBean and pisces03x for the suggestions! I've got everything set up as it should be now, without having to get another iTunes account. Here's how it went:

Yesterday morning I plugged the iPhone back into the computer and when it asked about registering the phone, I bit the bullet and clicked on my existing iTunes account, expecting some sort of kickback to occur in regards to nationality. Nothing of the sort really happened. The following screen showed the Canadian address information imported from my iTunes account, but iTunes must take into consideration IP addresses or something because when it listed country, there was no option to change it from United States. Also the state abbreviation was AA (not a state), however my postal code was in the zip code field. I clicked on the next button to see what would happen, and I got sent back to the address information screen because it would not accept the postal code. Fine. I put in my US address and zip code and it went through successfully, as if that was the actual payment info on the account.

I got into iTunes and began setting up my syncing preferences, etc, and let the iPhone sync itself. After that, I tried downloading Facebook and MySpace again via iTunes, and I was able use them on the iPhone without issue.

Lesson learned? iTunes does not appear to cross reference the information during registration, at least from what I can tell. I can download and purchase apps for a US iPhone with a Canadian iTunes account seamlessly, the only downside to it is less selection than the US iTunes store, which is a bridge I'll cross if and when I come to it.

Thanks again for your support and suggestions, hopefully this thread will remain here in case someone runs into the same problem.