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Expect long lines 7/11: AT&T requires in store activation

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In a recent press conference AT&T had with analysts AT&T mentioned when you buy the new iPhone you will have to get the phone activated IN THE STORE (Apple or ATT).

It's going to be a mess come July 11th ...
 
Link?

I just don't see this happening. Apple loves the idea of easy activation at home with iTunes.
 
The press conference happened this afternoon, and I'm pretty sure this was confirmed.
 
I swear I was just thinking about how crazy the lines will be on 7/11. That is why I will be @ the local AT&T store here bright and early. They open @ 8AM and they're about 5-7 minutes from my job walking distance. Thank God I don't have to be @ work till 9AM.
 
no, thats the dumbest thing i ever heard, why would they set up itunes activation just for 1 phone?
 
djransom said:
I swear I was just thinking about how crazy the lines will be on 7/11. That is why I will be @ the local AT&T store here bright and early. They open @ 8AM and they're about 5-7 minutes from my job walking distance. Thank God I don't have to be @ work till 9AM.
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And the iPhone will be unveiled at 6pm probably.
 
Last June, an AT&T CS rep swore to me on a stack of user contracts that everyone would have to activate in-store. I reminded him that you'd be able to buy the phone in an Apple store. He said AT&T would be there, activating phones. This all turned out to be horse feathers of course.

I call the same horse and feathers this year. Walk in, buy phone, walk out, activate at home. Done.
 
Seeing as the Apple online store says that iPhones will only be sold via Apple Retail and AT&T Retail, I'm going to say this is accurate.

Unless something new comes out in the weeks to come (which I hope it does), say bye bye iTunes activations.
 
Last June, an AT&T CS rep swore to me on a stack of user contracts that everyone would have to activate in-store. I reminded him that you'd be able to buy the phone in an Apple store. He said AT&T would be there, activating phones. This all turned out to be horse feathers of course.

I call the same horse and feathers this year. Walk in, buy phone, walk out, activate at home. Done.
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EXACTLY.... if the phone can be purchased in an Apple Store, how are they going to activate the phones there? Are they going to train the Apple Store employees to activate phones also are they going to get paid extra for the added duties?? is AT&T going to have staff and equipment setup in store to activate phones???

I wonder how this whole thing is going to pan out...
 
mcdj said:
Last June, an AT&T CS rep swore to me on a stack of user contracts that everyone would have to activate in-store. I reminded him that you'd be able to buy the phone in an Apple store. He said AT&T would be there, activating phones. This all turned out to be horse feathers of course.

I call the same horse and feathers this year. Walk in, buy phone, walk out, activate at home. Done.
Click to expand...

While I was fed the same hogwash last June we didn't have a AT&T exec make the statement. We also didn't have a phone that was subsidized by AT&T. If you look at the press release posted earlier AT&T announced a expected revenue drop to make up for the new lower price.

In the near term, AT&T anticipates that the new agreement will likely result in some pressure on margins and earnings, reflecting the costs of subsidized device pricing
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This means that AT&T is paying Apple to allow us for a cheap phone. I don't think they want to lose out on the subsidy by having people buy a phone and unlock it. They want you to at least pay a ETF if you do ....
 
From Gizmodo:

We just talked to AT&T's President of National Distribution Glenn Lurie, who gave us all the new pricing and activation details for the iPhone 3G, which won't be getting special treatment anymore. It will be using all AT&T's standard voice and data plans, which means $30 for unlimited 3G data for consumers, $45 for business users on top of voice. Also, no in-home activation for iPhone 3G—it will have to be activated in store (at AT&T or Apple Store), which takes 10-12 minutes, meaning that first day line is going to SUCK. And you will have to camp out, since there won't be any online ordering at launch—and Glenn was mum on how many phones there'd be to go around.
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Article link

That's it, folks.
 
I still doubt

Taking the activation out of itunes would change the way all firmware updates work. I cant see Apple changing that.
 
slippery-pete said:
In store activation only? Does Apple know how incompetent AT&T employees are? This has disaster written all over it.
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then dont buy it ! either you get it activated in AT&T store or Apple.

Stop bitching.. your getting the phone at lower price. Little price to pay for a discounted phone.
 
barcode252 said:
Taking the activation out of itunes would change the way all firmware updates work. I cant see Apple changing that.
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Agreed. What if we have to restore? We have to go back to the AT&T store to reactivate?

Gizmodo has gotten it wrong before. They'll do it again.

And even AT&T executives can be misinformed.

I'll believe in-store activation when I see it.
 
FarSeide said:
then dont buy it ! either you get it activated in AT&T store or Apple.

Stop bitching.. your getting the phone at lower price. Little price to pay for a discounted phone.
Click to expand...

Bitching? Don't buy it? Get a clue, I made a simple comment about the employees in AT&T stores(at least were I live being clowns)and that 7/11 will be a complete disaster if activation is in store only.
 
barcode252 said:
Taking the activation out of itunes would change the way all firmware updates work. I cant see Apple changing that.
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Just because you activate with another program doesn't mean that you can't use iTunes for everything else...

"The activation in our stores and in Apple stores will be the same, with the same prices" - taken directly from the conference call. They're talking about fraud/unlocking prevention, which is a problem that was even acknowledged during the keynote today.
 
mcdj said:
Agreed. What if we have to restore? We have to go back to the AT&T store to reactivate?

Gizmodo has gotten it wrong before. They'll do it again.

And even AT&T executives can be misinformed.

I'll belive in-store activation when I see it.
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^^ Totally, great point, what if you need a restore? Take trip backl to the store, that's non sense. I dont believe any of this until it happens, even if the CEO's of the world say something and write releases. Things can chage in days....So happy I have my Ist Gen iPhone, today was a great day for 1st Genners for sure if you look back at it.
 
touchyphone said:
^^ Totally, great point, what if you need a restore? Take trip backl to the store, that's non sense. I dont believe any of this until it happens, even if the CEO's of the world say something and write releases. Things can chage in days....So happy I have my Ist Gen iPhone, today was a great day for 1st Genners for sure if you look back at it.
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It really was, at first mention of the 3G price, I figured the value of G1 phones would plummet, but as more and more details come out.. I do believe the value is going to skyrocket...
 
Why do you guys think you would have to go back to the store if you restored your phone? It will work like it currently does, after restoring it you will have to connect to iTunes so that it can query the AT&T database to make sure you're SIM # is in there.
 
How about it works that you activate on iTunes before July 11th.
THEN get some kind of code which you take into an Apple/AT&T store. They check and see that you have activated a contract and sell you the reduced phone.

Sound plausible?
 
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