Background

When I first got my iPad (and iPhone 4 a month later), I registered them with a Philippine iTunes account. Since then, I’ve purchased several apps from the Apple App Store using my Philippines-issued credit card.

Now, the problem with the Philippine iTunes store is that you have no access to certain apps (e.g., Microsoft OneNote, Google Voice, etc.), as well as iTunes Music, Movies, TV Shows and iBookstore.

Then I discovered that it is in fact possible and totally legitimate to create a US iTunes account without a US-issued credit card (or US-based Paypal account). See the Apple support page on how to do it.

The Dilemma

So I created another (US) iTunes account.

While maintaining the US iTunes account only and dropping the Philippine iTunes account altogether is an option, it’s certainly out of the equation. I’ve already spent as much as US$100 in the Apps purchased from the Philippine iTunes Store.

I was worried that maintaining two iTunes accounts may pose problems in the future, especially during App updates.

Eventually, the Upgrade

Yet, I went on keeping the multiple iTunes accounts. While logged into the US-iTunes account, an available update/upgrade for an App purchased from the Philippine iTunes account prompted accordingly. Confirming the update, the following popup appeared:

Looking more closely:

I have to tap ‘OK’, then back to the App Store and tapping ‘Update’ (and entering the password) once again, and the update process went smoothly.

Conclusion

So, I guess the only drawback of maintaining multiple iTunes accounts is that when you are currently logged into one account and the update is coming from an App purchased/downloaded from another account, you will need to tap and follow through several more but easy steps to actually update the App/s. This trouble is worth it, especially considering a ton of privileges when one has a US iTunes account.

This has been so far my experience. Will update this post when something interesting is noted related to multiple iTunes accounts.

Update (Mar. 14, 2011): Checking for updates via iTunes for PC, it indicated I had three updates available. But trying to install:

It says:

No updates are currently available. To check for updates for another account, sign in with that account.

Still no problem here with the extra steps.