Bring a credit card if you want an iPhone, and you only get two
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Apple decided this week to require a credit card or debit card to buy an iPhone, and there's now a two-iPhone limit at its retail stores.
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(InfoWorld) - How badly do you want anÂ iPhone? Would you pay $1,500 to buy one? How about $300 for someone to wait on line for you? A cottage industry to help the desiring acquire the coveted Apple device is springing up prior to its Friday evening U.S. launch. Posts on Craigslist offer a host of options for those unable or unwilling toÂ wait in lineÂ themselves. Others are simply cutting to the chase and offering the device itself for as much as three times its retail price. Online resale of popular electronics items at a premium, especially game consoles such as the XBox 360 or Playstation 3, is nothing new. However, such hysteria has never greeted the launch of a mobile handset before. The iPhone's sale launch seems increasingly like the release of concert tickets than the debut of a consumer electronics product. However, unlike tickets to a live event, which is time-sensitive and has limited capacity, the iPhone sale period will be ongoing, and Apple expects to sell as many as 10 millionÂ of them next year. Also, Apple has not announced per-person buying limits for iPhones on launch night. Because of the nature of cell phone sales in the U.S., where most phones are "locked" to a particular number and service provider, Apple is unable to use what would otherwise likely be its most successful sales channel: its online store. Instead, consumers are forced to go to AT&T and Apple's physical stores to get the goods. Neither its ultimate availability nor the $499 price tag has stopped market forces from coming into play. Lazy buyers can choose line-waiters based on price and location. In California, one would-be waiter in Walnut Creek "will wait in line @ Apple Store in WC for 80 + Beer and a pack of Smokes." That's a veritable bargain compared to "Vince" in the Danville/San Ramon area, who's asking $300 to "wait in line for the release of the iPhone at the San Ramon AT&T Store on Bollinger starting Friday, June 29, 2007, at 8 a.m." In New York City, $250 seems to be the going rate for an all-day wait. "This service is for people who want an iphone on launch day, but have a day job and therefore cannot wait on line. I have at leastÂ 5 line-waiters who are up for the job," wrote this anonymous poster. While Craigslist is awash with iPhone-related listings, eBay's site is devoid of any advance sales of the handset. In March, the auction company said in March that it would remove pre-sales for the phone. However, eBay policy only prohibits listing of items that cannot be shipped within 30 days of purchase. EBay representatives were not immediately available for comment. Those with far more money than time can buy an iPhone outright, at least if anonymous online sellers can be believed. "Avail for pick up Friday after 6pm. $1500 cash only," reads one ad. Caveat emptor. Â
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Apple said it would credit $100 to customers who bought an iPhone at the full price of $599, after early adopters of the cellphone complained about yesterdayâs price cut.
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Only one per buyer at AT&amp;T stores When Apple's iPhone goes on sale tomorrow evening, buyers will only be allowed to take home two of the "revolutionary" mobile telephones, the Mac maker said today. That's twice as many as AT&amp;T, the only carrier offering the iPhone for the immediate future, will allow.â¦
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Apple Inc. has begun allowing people who bought iPhones before the higher-end model's price was abruptly slashed to apply for a $100 store credit.
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InfoWorld - How badly do you want an&#160;iPhone? Would you pay $1,500 to buy one? How about $300 for someone to wait on line for you?
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Take advantage of cards instead of it being the other way around.
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Also: Impending Apple phone to be Cingular-exclusive upon launch. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.
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(InfoWorld) - Apple and AT&T on Tuesday released details of the service plans forÂ the iPhone,Â which will be released later this week. The iPhone will have three available plans that will start at $59.99. Individual plans are priced at $59.99 for 450 minutes, $79.99 for 900 minutes and $99.99 for 1,350 minutes. iPhone customers can also choose from any of AT&TÂ¹s standard service plans, according to AT&T. All three iPhone plans include unlimited data, Visual Voice mail, 200 SMS text messages, roll-over minutes, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. The companies also offered details for the activation of the iPhone. As expected, the activation process will be handled through AppleÂ¹s iTunes application â¹ the process, according to Apple will only take a few minutes as iTunes guides users to choose a service plan, authorize a credit and activate the iPhone. iPhone activation requires an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; a valid Social Security number (as required by AT&T); the latest version of iTunes and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition. The iPhone requires a new two-year AT&T service plan. Customers with existing AT&T accounts will have the option of keeping their existing phone number and upgrading their account to work with iPhone. The iPhone will go on sale on Friday, June 29, 2007 and will cost $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model.
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Too many credit cards? Here's what to do.
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Brace yourself for a $2,000 phone bill AT&amp;T and Apple have announced what the iPhone will cost customers over the two-year contract they'll be obliged to sign - and it's pretty-much what AT&amp;T charges customers already.â¦
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Apple made a big splash when it announced the iPhone last month. But with its hefty price tag, restriction to a single carrier and departure from many traditional smart-phone features, buying the iPhone requires careful forethought.
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What's the best way to beat the  commitment involved in iPhone ownership? Bad credit.
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(InfoWorld) - Now that Apple's iPhone is finally on sale, the race is on to see who can unlock it. Locked phones can only be used with cellular service from one carrier, a move designed to guarantee carriers recover the cost of subsidizing a handset through monthly service charges. But the cost of the iPhone, which is priced at either US$499 or $599 depending on the model, is not subsidized by AT&T. Users must pay full price for the handset and sign a two-year contract, which requires them to pay from $59.99 to $99.99 per month for cellular service. Unlocking the iPhone will enable the handset to be used with any cellular provider with a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) or EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) network, not just AT&T's network. That's an attractive proposition for users who already have a cellular contract with another carrier, or users outside the U.S. who can't wait to get their hands on Apple's new handset. Efforts to unlock the iPhone are being tracked on several Web sites, including Hackint0sh and the iPhone Dev Wiki. Initial signs look promising, although the iPhone remained locked at the time of writing. Like other GSM phones, the iPhone uses a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, a removable smart card that contains a user's phone number as well as limited storage space for contacts and messages. SIM cards are designed to be swapped between phones, allowing users to change handsets while using their cellular service. They can also be switched when users travel, allowing them to avoid international roaming charges with the purchase of a prepaid, local SIM card. A removable SIM card is a good sign for hackers, because it indicates the phone is locked using firmware, which can likely be cracked. Of course, unlocking the iPhone requires more than simply changing the SIM card. Swapping the AT&T SIM card used with the iPhone for a SIM card from another carrier results in an error message that reads, "Incorrect SIM. This iPhone must be used with an approved SIM." To unlock the iPhone, hackers must first circumvent the handset's activation process. New iPhone users are required to activate their handset using the latest version of iTunes, released on Friday, before they can use the phone. Without activation, which requires users to sign up for an AT&T service plan, none of the iPhone's functions, including the camera and music player, can be accessed. If hackers can circumvent the activation process, the next challenge will be to unlock the SIM card itself. That could happen as soon as Monday. By Sunday night, U.S. time, hackers had made progress towards circumventing the iPhone activation process, gaining access to key system files and finding two passwords used with the phone, according to the iPhone Dev Wiki. "I think by the end of tomorrow we'll have an activation crack," one user wrote on the site.
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What&#39;s the best way to beat the  commitment involved in iPhone ownership? Bad credit. AT&T Inc.   said on Friday that people who buy Apple Inc.&#39;s   much-hyped iPhone but do not meet its credit requirements will  still be able to keep the phone without having to commit to a  two-year contract.
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What's the best way to beat the  commitment involved in iPhone ownership? Bad credit. AT&T Inc.   said on Friday that people who buy Apple Inc.'s   much-hyped iPhone but do not meet its credit requirements will  still be able to keep the phone without having to commit to a  two-year contract.
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Don't settle for an HDTV: Pay off a credit card.