Mac App Store: Setup=Painful

OK, so I will admit that I’m a new Mac user.  Been a PC/Windows user for a gazillion years, but thought, with my new job, that I’d give the Mac a try.  Definitely a big learning curve to using a Mac, which I understand and expect.  However, simply trying to download Trillian took about 30 minutes.

I started by browsing to the Trillian site to get the software, which I would normally do in Windows.  Apparently, though, Trillian for the Mac is only available via the App Store.  OK, so fire up the App Store app.  Ooooh.  There it is, but, ugh, I have to setup an Apple ID in order to download the free Trillian app.  OK, I guess that makes sense.  Enter some information, confirm agreements, now on to choosing form of payment.  Well, I don’t intend on buying many apps, and I really don’t feel like entering a credit card #, so I’ll use PayPal.  Click on the little PayPal icon and continue.  Launches the PayPal web-site, login, confirm that the iTunes? store is allowed to use my PayPal account.  Click continue, opens the iTunes page in Firefox.  Huh?  Go back to the App Store app, and it’s still sitting on the “click continue to setup PayPal” payment option page.  huh?

So, I click continue again, and again PayPal web-site is launched.  Login, reconfirm, click continue, back to iTunes store web-site.  App Store app still sitting on the select payment option page.  Try it again, same thing.  I even try logging into the App Store using the email address and password I provided on the first page of the Create Apple ID wizard.  But, apparently, the my Apple ID was never created, because I couldn’t actually get to the Create Apple ID page of the wizard because it was perpetually stuck on the select payment options page!

I even try to do this via iTunes, because PayPal seems to think that I’m setting up this Apple ID for iTunes, but I get the same thing.  So, what the hell, I’ll provide an actual credit card.  Enter all the information, finally get to the Create Apple ID page and click Create……….and, get a “we are experiencing difficulties, please try again later message”.  You’re kidding, right?

I thought Macs and Apple, in general, are supposed to be far superior than, well, anything when it comes to user experience.  30+ minutes to create an Apple ID – and I didn’t even get to use my PayPal account – is far from a great user experience.  I did eventually get it to work.  Oh yeah, I want to install Trillian.  Forgot all about that…