Can't create new PO template

I'm trying to understand how to use intltool to manage the translations of my application.

Here is the (truncated) output of intltool-update:

  $ intltool-update
  ...
  Examples of use:
  ...
  intltool-update xy create new PO template and merge xy.po with it

And the man page says:

       Creates new PO template and updates translation file xy.po (xy.po is overwritten with new content):

         intltool-update xy

But when I try to follow those instructions, I get this:

  $ intltool-update id
  intltool-update: ./id.po does not exist!
  Try 'intltool-update --help' for more information.

If I try to run the same command with an existing translation, it works as expected:

  $ intltool-update fr
  ..................................... done.
  362 translated messages.

So, how one's supposed to use the "create" mode of intltool?