[wilsonng]

I have a Japanese friend who wants to buy an iPhone but would rather connect to the iTunes Japan store.

We're in Guam which is a U.S. territory and connects to the iTunes U.S. store. But she would rather connect to the iTunes Japan store to get Japanese apps and music.

I don't see a regional setting that allows one to choose a store. Is this based on the ISP's geographic location or can she just choose iTunes Japan somehow?

Thx

[Spheric Harlot]

Home page on the iTunes store, at the very bottom.

You will need a separate account with a billing address in that country, though.

[Simon]

Despite what is often said, you actually don't need a billing address in that country. It's actually the CC that needs to come from that country. If you can get a Japanese CC company to issue you a Japanese CC in Uganda with a billing address in Uganda, you could still use the Japanese Apple Store in Uganda.

I used one of my American CCs in Europe with the US Apple Store for a long time. The CC company had me on file with my European billing address and all, the US Apple Store even had my European address. Still worked like a charm.

Bottom line, it's the CC issuer that counts. Not you. Of course in most cases those two are usually in the same country, but ex-pats will appreciate the difference.

[Spheric Harlot]

Can you enter your Euro address for the account, though?

[Simon]

That's what I actually did. IIRC you can't enter a country, but so what? It's not like Apple is going to send you the song by postal mail.

[Spheric Harlot]

That's technically the "billing address" I referred to above.

It's true though, nothing ever gets mailed there, so it's purely are formality.

This changes somewhat if you associate it with your Apple ID, though.

[Simon]

You didn't understand. I used a European billing address in the US Apple Store. People often say you need the billing address in the same country as the store, but that's nonsense. The reason it worked is because the CC I used was issued in the US. That's what Apple and the iTS actually really check. You need a CC from that country, you OTOH can live anywhere.

Re: Apple ID, you can have as many Apple IDs as you want. It's not like your new Mac would be sent to the wrong country because you chose to use another iTS.