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Comment by rbanffy | Hacker News Reader

iTunes gift cards are not abundant resources everywhere.

They're a lot more abundant than the Mac you need to run Xcode on, though.

iTMS cards are purchasable at every 7-Eleven and nearly every major supermarket, Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target or what-have-you in the USA. You can buy Xcode with $5 in nickles if you have access to a Coinstar machine.

Let's be realistic, the hardware demands are much more serious than $5 on an iTunes card. The problem here is the message Apple is sending.

> iTMS cards are purchasable at every (...) or what-have-you in the USA.

Outside the USA, what do you do?

Either buy the gift card in your country, or alternatively get a US gift card on eBay.

See the kind of convoluted procedures this silly price is making people do?

Plus until recently you couldn't use a gift card in Canada to purchase anything in the AppStore. Or an American paypal balance, or a canadaian checking account through a verified American paypal account.

I don't understand? I don't like Apple's geographically segmented marketplace either, but in the end it's not too big a problem to get around.

I have never been to a retail store where I didn't see them available.

What countries have you been to?

They're in pretty much every major supermarket in the UK and Ireland.

iTunes cards are available in most supermarkets and electronic stores in Switzerland.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think they even exist in Portugal.

Speaking of purely US-only experience, of course.

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