Is Apple braindead or am I? - the saga of iPod Touch January update in India

I got an iPod Touch about 10 days back and was happy as a baby exploring a new toy until I realized that it came with outdated software. The so-called "January update" to iPod Touch that made it much more useful (such as adding a Mail app, etc) was not available even though I had purchased the Touch in the last week of January 2008.

So I promptly went to the Apple website and looked around. I did find a link that promised me the heavens with the January update and a link to buy the update. I thought "Ok so Apple is going to rip me off $20 in the process even if I did get the Touch only in end-January - so what?". So I went ahead and clicked the link to buy the update.

This then opened iTunes which started loading the iTunes Store and then asked me to register for an iTunes Store account but refused to allow me to register since I was in India and Apple did not have the iTunes Store available for India.

I didn't want to buy any music - I just wanted the Touch update. But I couldn't get it without an iTunes Store account which in turn was not available if you were unlucky enough to be in India.

So I called up the Apple support line in Bangalore (luckily they do have a support helpdesk in India). The friendly customer support representative took my Touch serial number and other details and finally proclaimed the obvious - "Sir, you need to go to iTunes Store and download the update via that". I said "Yes I tried that and it didn't allow me to create the account. That is why I'm calling you".

And to this the friendly guy replied, "You'll need to create an account with a USA or Australia credit card and address and then download the update". To this I said "How am I supposed to do that if I don't have a credit card from USA or Australia?". To that he says, "Sorry I can't help you with that".

OK... so why is Apple selling iPod Touch in India if they don't allow you to make full use of the products they are selling? Apple may be great at design - but I think they're braindead when it comes to commonsense (either that or they think they are so high and mighty they can get away with anything).

Why can't they just provide some sort of download area that allows customers in India (and the hundreds of other countries where there is no iTunes Store) to download the update from their site as long as they have a serial number that can be traced back to a retailer in that country. Or even provide the update on a disk to customers without iTunes Store accounts who want to buy it?

Not sure what is going on here. I would appreciate if anyone has any tips on how unfortunate people in India can get the January update for iPod Touch.