buy now, activate later

[sprescott1974]

someone over at the discussions.apple.com boards stated that they spoke to someone at their local apple store and were told that the store would be selling the phones only and that service would be arranged through at&t. this jives with a report on appleinsder that said there would be a unique and easy activation process for the iphone, most likely through itunes. at&t leaked internal documents say that you will be able to access and pay your bill through itunes so it would makes sense that you'd be able to activate service through it as well (almost like a special iTMS for cell service, it's all WebKit i believe). to me this is great, make it as easy as possible, i only see one downside though. while this makes it easy to buy the iphone directly from apple for people who want it, it also makes it easier for scalpers to buy the iphone directly from apple and put it up on ebay at inflated prices.

what do you guys think?

 

[Aperture]

Could you post a link to the Apple Discussion boards thread?

 

[sprescott1974]

Could you post a link to the Apple Discussion boards thread?

done! sorry about that.

 

[neven]

That's a very interesting idea. Hopefully there will be enough supply that scalpers won't really have much of an incentive - but if they do, hey, there's worse things than someone paying more to get their iPhone earlier.

This would mean that iPhone would, de facto, require iTunes. I know, I know - if you didn't use iTunes, why would you get an iPhone anyway? But there's bound to be at least some people who will start using iTunes, or start using it more seriously, because of iPhone.

I for one would love for the activation process to be like this. It would be like setting up an iTunes account once you've bought an iPod.

 

[DeathChill]

They did say that in-store activation would happen though, so who knows.

 

[/dev/toaster]

I really hope you can't walk into a store and buy it without service. Thats only going to lead to people buying them and putting them on ebay for triple their cost. The only way they should do that is if they have a few million to sell at release, which I very highly doubt they will.

 

[JNB]

The only way they should do that is if they have a few million to sell at release, which I very highly doubt they will.

Actually, that's my only real concern. Apple's track record with product availability at launch for highly anticipated products is less than stellar. They do say that it will be available in quantity at 2,000 some-odd Apple and AT&T locations at launch, so I shall remain "cautiously optimistic."

 

[neven]

Another thought in support of the idea that activation will either be done by the user themselves, via iTunes (or the Cingular website, or some combination of the two), and kept to the minimum at the Apple store - Apple staff will have to be trained well and quickly on the numerous ins and outs of the device itself. Even this will be pretty hectic; they haven't even begun thinking about how to schedule and organize it, and I'm sure they won't hear a word about training before Steve announces the official shipping date (otherwise the risk of store employees leaking specs and features is too great). So that leaves two, maybe three weeks for Apple stores to train their employees about how to use and demo the device; adding training in Cingular's phone subscriptions would be hard to cram in.

I'm sure Apple store employees will be familiar with the bullet points of the plan, but if Apple has it their way, they won't have to know much more than that - "plug in the iPhone and fill out the activation form in iTunes. It's all very self-explanatory. Have fun."

 

[jdechko]

... adding training in Cingular's phone subscriptions would be hard to cram in...

As per AT&T's documents on Engadget, though, I remember reading that Cingular/AT&T will not actually support the hardware, only the cellular service, and Apple will not support the service, only the hardware.

In addition, I thought I read somewhere that the iPhone had to be purchased with a phone & data plan... that you couldn't just walk into the AT&T or Apple stores and buy one, but that they had said thay a contract was required for a purchase.