Some people I know who only have Taiwan credit cards will use them to buy iTunes gift card codes and then use those for iTunes credits. This is so they can get into the US store. They just use a friend’s address in the States and have no credit card info on file.
Parents have also used the gift card mechanism as an enabler and a form of “allowance” for their kids.
I haven’t tried this yet, but you can also gift apps to people now. I wonder how well this works for books and movies?
I wouldn’t expect this policy to change. It would defeat the purpose of mobility if content you purchase from iTunes could only be used in the country of purchase.[/quote]
But you don’t purchase content on the Apple TV anymore, you rent it, so that feature is certainly something that could disappear at any time, along with Netflix. I’m sure you’ll continue to be able to buy content from a non-Taiwan iTS on a PC or Mac and stream it to the Apple TV, but even that’s strictly speaking against the TOS and could be disabled at any time.
This all then raises the question of why bother? Paying $99 for an ATV and then $5 for a film off the US iTS while you’re in Taiwan doesn’t make you a legitimate user as far as the content licenser is concerned, so you could find yourself locked out of your purchases at any time. Also since you are jumping through hoops to access iTS, why no just use Amazon OnDemand which is more competitive at current prices. And devices such as the Xbox 360 and PS3 offer a superior experience to the Apple TV - higher resolution, wider format support out-of-box, and you can stream practically any file using TVersity or PS3 Media Server without the need to pre-transcode files.
A $99 tiny box is a stocking stuffer that you can give to anyone and their mom and it’s a sure-shot appropriate gift that they can probably get working themselves. An XBox 360 or PS3 is not.
That said, the XBox Netflix experience is great. For gamers and techies, this is awesome. But the XBox and PS3 being positioned as a gaming machine first and foremost can limit the appeal of using it for the movie rental/subscription purpose.
If you were talking to someone and told them there is something you can use to rent movies and watch them right now without ever leaving your house, something positioned as a video-game console is probably the last thing they are thinking about.
There is something to be said for Apple focusing the positioning as basically something like: the Apple TV is a $99 entrance fee that lets you avoid having to go anywhere to rent a movie.
In places where you pay $99 or more to fill the gas tank of your SUV, $99 is practically an impulse buy.
As I said before the key thing for them will be content availability and timeliness versus the Netflix, Comcasts and Redboxes of the world.
I’m talking specifically with regards to using the ATV in Taiwan. No doubt the features on offer and $99 price point are great for the US market, but I don’t see why people are getting excited by the opportunity to import one over here.