Get a US account for the Mac App Store

With the launch of the Mac App store yesterday, there are a loads of brilliant new apps to download. The biggest issue with that we have in the South Africa app store is that a majority of apps aren’t available. This includes the highly coveted Games category. Due to various regulations in South Africa, all games, whether for PC or a device need to pass through the film & publications board to get a rating. This means that most times games like Angry birds etc will not be available for download in the SA Mac App store.

If you have a US Mac App Store account, you will have access to loads more apps and of course the games. I decided to put a quick tutorial together on how to sign up for a US Mac App store account. You don’t need a credit card account for this account, you simply “top it up” with vouchers from EvoPoints ,  iTunesUSA , Maximus Cards or WildTwig who accept PayPal

To see how to set up a US iTunes account for the Mac App store, simply tweet about it using the button below, and you will be given full access on how to set it up.

To get a US Mac App store account you need to follow the steps below

1. After downloading the Mac App store application to your mac for the first time, you will be presented with the screen below. If you are already signed into an account, you will need to sign out of that account first.
   On the right hand side of the page, you will see charts with paid apps & free apps.
   Click on any FREE app, and “purchase” it. You need to ensure that you have selected a free app, otherwise you will not be able to complete this. Choose an app like Twitter or Evernote as your FREE app.
   
2. You will then be prompted with a sign in box. Select “Create Apple ID”
   
3. On the first screen, you will be “Welcomed” to the app store. In the bottom right hand corner of the screen you should see the American flag. If you see any other country’s flag, click on it to change and select United States as your country.
   
4. You will then start setting up your account.
   First accept the Terms & Conditions
5. Create your Apple ID. If you have an existing account, you need to use a new email address. If you have a Gmail account, you can simply put a fullstop(.) anywhere in your address, and it will forward to your existing email address. So if you address is [email protected], you can also use [email protected] and you will receive the mail.
   
6. On the following screen you are prompted for your payment details & address details.
   If you do NOT see a NONE option in the payment options, you will need to start over !! If you have a iTunes Voucher from EvoPoints , iTunesUSA , Maximus Cards or WildTwig who accept PayPal, you can also redeem it here.When selecting your address you will need to put in a US physical address. There is validation done, so it needs to ensure you have a valid address. You can use Fakenamegenerator.com to generate an address & telephone number, or simply use the address of a fancy hotel in the US that you “own” :)Apple have recently implemented an address verification system on the address. My suggestion is to use a hotel address in Florida or a head office of some big shot corporate company in California. Google is your friend ;)
   
7. Once you have completed this step, you should receive a confirmation email, which you need to confirm before you can use the app store.
8. After confirming your email address, you can now log into the store. You will need to top up your account with credit. You can buy iTunes vouchers in denominations of $10, $15, $25 or $50 from either EvoPoints , EvoPoints , iTunesUSA , Maximus Cards or WildTwig who accept PayPal. Once you have your code from these stores, you can redeem it on the Mac App store, by clicking Redeem on the right hand menu on the front page.
9. You may also get a prompt to update your billing details with credit card details. You can just ignore this. Your South African credit card or PayPal account will NOT work in the US Mac App Store.