The iPhone requires an iTunes Store account
157403
Blog: Getting that new iPhone up and running will require an account with the iTunes Store, perhaps to reinforce the notion that Apple's the primary source of legal digital content.
751044
Online auction house eBay&#39;s payment system PayPal can now be used for purchases by US customers of Apple&#39;s iTunes music store.
574551
Apple updated iTunes to keep users from creating free iPhone ringtones--a workaround has already been posted.
243532
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.
589035
The iTunes Music Store in the US will now accept PayPal for purchases of music downloads, audiobooks and gift certificates. Starting today, iTunes Music Store purchases can be funded through PayPal&#146;s virtual wallet, allowing customers to pay in the way they prefer &#151; using a credit card, bank account or stored account balance. [Dec 10]
485671
For more than a year now, if you wanted to buy downloaded music to play on your iPod, you had to go to Apple&#39;s music site, the iTunes Music Store, to get it.
631753
(InfoWorld) - A company that unlocks cell phones in Europe said it is close to having an application that will allow customers to unlock their Apple iPhones so they can use SIM cards from carriers other than AT&T to activate the phones. In an interview this week in New York, John McLaughlin, founder of Belfast, U.K.-based Uniquephones, said he has engineers working around the clock in several countries who are close to cracking the complex security system Apple has set up to ensure customers can only use iPhones with AT&T Wireless service. The race by hackers to unlock iPhones has been on since the phone was released last Friday. Currently, AT&T Wireless has an exclusive deal with Apple to provide service for iPhones, and customers must agree to a two-year service plan with the company. However, customers have complained that the carrier's wireless service is slow, and according to McLaughlin, there has been tremendous interest in the ability to unlock the phone. By Sunday night, he said, more than 150,000 inquires had come in through the Web site he set up to request IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers from customer iPhones. While not everyone would volunteer their IMEI numbers, they still expressed interest in learning how to unlock their iPhones, McLaughlin said. When the site was set up, he thought it would be an easy case of supplying unlock codes from AT&T to unlock iPhones. But sometime over the weekend after iPhones went on sale, unlock codes from AT&T for about 6,000 iPhones disappeared from the carrier's database, and McLaughlin's team also realized it would be a more complex matter than simply providing an unlock code to release iPhones from AT&T's grip. There is at least a two-step process to unlocking an iPhone, McLaughlin said. His team has been able to unlock the activation process to the AT&T SIM card specific to an iPhone so another AT&T SIM card can work with the phone and be activated through iTunes. However, any attempt to change the firmware of an iPhone so it can support another carrier's SIM card breaks the phone, he said. The key to unlocking the phone is breaking the encryption process that protects the token sent through the iTunes activation process to an iPhone's firmware, McLaughlin believes. Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen, also known as "DVD John" because he cracked the DVD encryption scheme, claims he's been able to unlock the iPhone beyond the activation process that requires an AT&T account but said the device can't be used as a phone when that happens. Even after an iPhone were unlocked, it still could only work on carrier networks that support the GSM network, which is what AT&T's service is based on. In the U.S., T-Mobile is the only major carrier on a GSM network. And there is no guarantee Apple will not lock down the phones again in a future firmware update through the iPhone synchronization process or create a new way to unlock the next wave of iPhones they put on the market. That is, in fact, exactly what one analyst said will happen. "I assume that someone will succeed in unlocking the iPhone," said Avi Greengart, principal analyst, mobile devices at Current Analysis. "I also assume Apple will close whatever loophole is open the next time they synchronize [the software]." It's also likely there will be complications with special features of the phone that are designed to work only on AT&T's network, such as the visual voicemail feature, he said. Greengart said that he sympathizes with those that might want to use an iPhone with another carrier but "that's not the way the product was designed." "Exclusive agreements are not that unusual in this industry at all," he said. Aaron Santell, an iPhone user in New York, said that he would have preferred to use the service provider he has for his Blackberry device, Verizon Wireless, when he purchased an iPhone. But using AT&T's service is "a small price to pay" to use a device that provides such a rich user experience as the iPhone does, he said. As one might imagine, unlocking phones is a thorny issue with carriers, which certainly don't condone it. Carriers will give users unlock codes upon request for a fee, but they don't encourage the practice. In the U.K. and Europe, third parties have been unlocking handsets for several years, although there is no law that specifically protects them, McLaughlin said. However, in the U.S., it is legal to unlock mobile handsets under an amendment to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that was passed in November 2006. McLaughlin said that even though it's legal in the U.S. to unlock phones, he anticipates that if his team is successful, Apple may take legal action against them based on their tinkering with the firmware. "They'll probably come after us for copyright infringement," he said. Apple did not reply to requests for comment Thursday. McLaughlin plans to charge customers about $49.99 for software to unlock iPhones. Even if Uniquephones is not the first to offer unlocking capability, it won't be hard for them to replicate what others have done once the encryption is cracked, he added.
337091
Apple angered early purchasers of its iPhone with its $200 price drop but now has detailed how those early adopters can claim a $100 credit.
141295
Your iPhone must be activated with AT&T, and it had to be purchased before August 22 in order to be eligible for the credit.
675119
Apple released an update for iTunes on Friday in preparation for the iPhone. Version 7.3 allows the user to activate their iPhone service through the application.
134668
On Wednesday, Apple will stop allowing people running version 4.2 to purchase songs from the iTunes Music Store. &quot;As of today, customers will need to use one of the three most recent versions of iTunes -- 4.7
110883
(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.
19672
While many who snapped up Apple Inc.'s iPhone were using the latest must-have gadget even before leaving the store, some buyers were put on hold as they experienced frustrating delays in activating their cell phone service.
708953
InfoWorld - Consumers planning to buy&#160;the iPhone when it goes on sale in the U.S. later this month will need to have an iTunes Store account before they can activate the device, according to information on Apple Inc.&#39;s Web site.
13670
(InfoWorld) - Consumers planning to buyÂ the iPhone when it goes on sale in the U.S. later this month will need to have an iTunes Store account before they can activate the device, according to information on Apple Inc.'s Web site. Apple will require customers to establish a separate account with its online media service in addition to one with AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which has signed an exclusive U.S. distribution deal for the iPhone. The move will allow Apple to create its own billing relationship with iPhone customers, rather than collecting payments for any iTunes purchases they make via the mobile operator. "It would be naive to imagine that Apple wouldn't leverage iTunes with iPhone," said Emma Mohr-McClune, senior analyst for wireless services in Europe at Current Analysis Inc. Mobile handset vendors, such as Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., will beÂ keeping a close eye on Apple's strategy of linking content with handsets, she said. The posting on the Apple Web site informs potential customers that if they don't already have an iTunes Store account, they should set one up "to save time later." An Apple spokeswoman in Europe declined to comment further. The iPhone is due to go on sale in the U.S. on June 29. The company has announced plans for a European release in the fourth quarter of the year but has yet to provide details, such as whether the European version will operate on 3G (third-generation) networks. Â
275533
When they purchase an iPhone, customers can use iTunes on a Mac or PC to activate their new phones in the comfort and privacy of their homes or offices instead of waiting for activation in a store. With iTunes guiding them through the simple steps of choosing a service plan, authorizing their credit, and activating their iPhone, they can complete the activation process in minutes. Following activation, new iPhone customers can again use iTunes to easily sync their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows, and movies with iPhone.
311375
Apple Inc will offer a $100 store  credit to people who bought the iPhone before the company  slashed the price by $200, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a  statement on Thursday.