RadioShack to Carry iPhone 4 at Launch

[MacRumors]

According to RadioShack's official Twitter account, the electronics chain will be carrying iPhone 4 as of its U.S. launch on June 24th.

YES! RadioShack will have #iPhone4 at launch. More info tomorrow.

In another tweet several hours ago, the company also revealed that, similar to Apple's own iPhone 4 ordering system, RadioShack will begin taking pre-orders for the new iPhone on Tuesday, June 15th.

JUST IN: #iPhone4 pre-orders start next Tuesday @RadioShack... and that's only the beginning.

RadioShack began rolling out sales of the iPhone 3GS in late November 2009, and after a months-long ramp-up, officially went nationwide with an advertising push in late March.

Article Link: RadioShack to Carry iPhone 4 at Launch

 

[iMacoo7]

So I wonder if Wally World is going to be doing the same thing? I did my usual camp out last year. There is a Walmart like 30 seconds walking distance from the ATT store. If this is the case then I will be camping out in the Walmart which is 24/7

 

[dezeinstein]

Radio Shack

You've got questions. We've got transistors.

 

[kwyn]

How bout Best Buy?

 

[rdowns]

Apple really geared up for this rollout. Look how many countries and how fast they're ramping up. I bet all their big retail partners have it on launch day. Those retailers want in on the iPhone rush too.

 

[jayducharme]

You've got questions. We've got transistors.

Do they? I thought they phased them out, along with most of the other electronic hobbyist items that they alone used to carry.

Well, I guess the more vendors who carry the iPhone, the better. But The Shack would be the last place I'd go to get one. (I used to work there....) But I guess if it's the only electronics store in a particular town, that might be a way for Apple to get iPhones into the hands of people who might not otherwise buy one.

 

[Earendil]

But I guess if it's the only electronics store in a particular town...

That's me!
Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away. Nearest Authorized AT&T store that would carry the iPhone is like 60. Radio shack is just 10 minutes.

I'm wondering though, what would be the advantages/disadvantages to buying it at Radio Shack vs AT&T vs The Apple Store? Once I have the item purchased, will I notice any sort of difference what-so-ever?

Cheers.

 

[rdowns]

That's me!
Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away. Nearest Authorized AT&T store that would carry the iPhone is like 60. Radio shack is just 10 minutes.

I'm wondering though, what would be the advantages/disadvantages to buying it at Radio Shack vs AT&T vs The Apple Store? Once I have the item purchased, will I notice any sort of difference what-so-ever?

Cheers.

Why would there be any difference? Do Cheese Doodles purchased form the Piggly Wiggly taste any better than those purchased from Publix?

 

[GoCubsGo]

That's me!
Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away. Nearest Authorized AT&T store that would carry the iPhone is like 60. Radio shack is just 10 minutes.

I'm wondering though, what would be the advantages/disadvantages to buying it at Radio Shack vs AT&T vs The Apple Store? Once I have the item purchased, will I notice any sort of difference what-so-ever?

Cheers.

No advantages. I mean what does it matter? If it's the white Apple bag you want I can send you one. Eventually they become useless.

 

[excalibur313]

How bout Best Buy?

That is my question exactly too! I have these gift certificates from them burning a hole in my pocket. I called today and the woman said she wasn't sure when they would find out launch information about that but she put me on a list to call when she did find out.

Has anyone else heard anything? What have they done for previous iphone launches?

 

[clockworksaulo]

There's A Difference where you buy

That's me!
Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away. Nearest Authorized AT&T store that would carry the iPhone is like 60. Radio shack is just 10 minutes.

I'm wondering though, what would be the advantages/disadvantages to buying it at Radio Shack vs AT&T vs The Apple Store? Once I have the item purchased, will I notice any sort of difference what-so-ever?

Cheers.

I used to work at radioshack too and the resources there suck. Activation will take longer than usual and they can mess up your account/credit. I hated activating phones cause it was a hassle since we were not connected directly with carriers.

I bought my 3Gs from ATT store and my girlfriends at Apple Store. Mine began freezing within the first 15 days. Went to ATT and they gave me so much trouble when trying to exchange it. They ended up not wanting to exchange it for me and said they don't take returns on iPhones, when it says the customer has a 30 day (BY LAW) return policy. SO then i went to apple store, even though i bought it from ATT, they quickly opened up a new one and gave me a brand new one, no questions asked (just their standard serial number checks). Went to get 3 more iphones for family plan at Apple, fast easy and great service. Point is ATT = no good and Apple = better.

Now for Radioshack. Brother-in-Law goes and his credit gets run twice by child who works at Radioshack and signs him up to expensive plan. So they have to call their 3rd party service provider and the manager there and employee make a big mess of his ATT account and turns out the phone they had was from a customer return, not even brand new. He ends up just getting bad credit after 4 hrs in the stuffy dusty shack. We go to apple next week, now he has to put deposit cause his credit was messed up but guess what? thats right apple waived it as they saw the mistake and he gets a brand new phone. Radioshack = worse place to get any phone Apple = smart well trained employees

I just talked about these cases closest to me but I'll tell you those Radioshack employees are the worst to buy any cellphone from. you take a risk with your credit, used phone possibly, long activations, and bad locale. Radioshack is closest to me, then ATT, then Apple, then Best Buy and Walmart. I would take the long trip to apple before i try the first two stores. And if your other options are real far away i would recommend just ordering it on apple's website direct. Shipping is free and you know what plan youre adding. I've heard good stuff about BestBuy and dont have a clue how Walmart goes, just know RADIOSHACK IS THE WORSE, unless of course they get it right and phone works without a flaw the first 30days.

 

[Earendil]

Why would there be any difference? Do Cheese Doodles purchased form the Piggly Wiggly taste any better than those purchased from Publix?

No, I suspect that Apple's quality control is good enough that an iPhone bought at AT&T and one bought from Radio Shack will taste identical.

No advantages. I mean what does it matter? If it's the white Apple bag you want I can send you one. Eventually they become useless.

I was thinking more along the lines of Warranties. The Apple one will hold no matter what, I would imagine. But I didn't know if Radio Shack, for example, generally has extended services above and beyond the manufacturers.

Or perhaps when an iPhone is bought from Apple a certain amount of data is stored at the time of purchase (like the date) that would make future warranty claims go smoother.

I could not care less about white baggies or taste differences.

 

[AppleFreak89]

I kind of take offense to the statement that the radioshack employees can ruin your credit. truth is it is impossible..there is no way to touch your credit when running an activation. the used phone incident sounded like a mistake, hardly the norm. I've never heard of that happening. Radioshack is connected to the carries and in fact have their own representative for each carrier. Also, Radioshack offers a 30-day policy same as everywhere. Oh and the cell-phones sold at Walmart, target and Sam's club are owned by Radioshack BTW.

 

[BlondeBuddhist]

I kind of take offense to the statement that the radioshack employees can ruin your credit. truth is it is impossible..there is no way to touch your credit when running an activation. the used phone incident sounded like a mistake, hardly the norm. I've never heard of that happening. Radioshack is connected to the carries and in fact have their own representative for each carrier. Also, Radioshack offers a 30-day policy same as everywhere. Oh and the cell-phones sold at Walmart, target and Sam's club are owned by Radioshack BTW.

haha.. yeah.. I dont pay much attention to the "my brothers, sisters, gardeners went to this one radio shack in ireland" stories. every store is different. period.

I live 50 feet from a Walmart, 100 feet from a Radio Shack, 30 miles from ATT and 2 Hours from an Apple store.

Will Walmart do pre-orders? If not I guess its another 50 feet to "The Shack" I have to pre-order at this store since I will be getting my iPhone 4 by adding a line to an existing contract.

 

[Jpoon]

I would rather just order it online if I didn't want to drive to an Apple Store.

Seriously, RadioShack needs to die.

 

[Markov]

Do they? I thought they phased them out, along with most of the other electronic hobbyist items that they alone used to carry.

Some stores do, the one I work in does.

That's me!
Nearest Apple Store is 90 minutes away. Nearest Authorized AT&T store that would carry the iPhone is like 60. Radio shack is just 10 minutes.

I'm wondering though, what would be the advantages/disadvantages to buying it at Radio Shack vs AT&T vs The Apple Store? Once I have the item purchased, will I notice any sort of difference what-so-ever?

Cheers.

Uh... no. It's the same iPhone 4. Why would there be a difference?

I used to work at radioshack too and the resources there suck. Activation will take longer than usual and they can mess up your account/credit. I hated activating phones cause it was a hassle since we were not connected directly with carriers.

Wrong. They've changed that. We get to customers faster, upgrades typically take 5 minutes if ATT isn't slow or down.

I would rather just order it online if I didn't want to drive to an Apple Store.

Seriously, RadioShack needs to die.

Seriously? You mean, your not joking? Why should RadioShack die? The other stores need the competition. And why would you be against going to RadioShack?

 

[BlondeBuddhist]

I would rather just order it online if I didn't want to drive to an Apple Store.

Seriously, RadioShack needs to die.

from what the Apple service rep told me today, in order to pre-order by adding a line I have to do the pre-ordering in the store.

 

[bernardoruas]

contract free iPhones

are we goona be able to buy contract free iPhone 4? i don't even think about unlocked but contract free for a reasonable price would be great.

 

[rwilliams]

Hell yeah. There's a Radio Shack about 5 minutes from my house. This should keep me from having to stand in ridiculously long lines at the Apple Store. I hope that Best Buy does this too, if only because I've never had a bad phone activation experience there, and I can rack up the Reward Zone points.

 

[deannnnn]

Why would there be any difference? Do Cheese Doodles purchased form the Piggly Wiggly taste any better than those purchased from Publix?

Food from Publix is always better.
Publix groupie right here. Didn't realize how much I love them until I started going to school in NYC!

 

[deannnnn]

I would rather just order it online if I didn't want to drive to an Apple Store.

Seriously, RadioShack needs to die.

I used to go to RadioShack every time I needed some kind of cable or needed to convert some kind of cable into another kind of cable. Then I learned that they're prices are insanely high and I've been being ripped off. Now I buy from cmple.com.

 

[rwilliams]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

On launch day at the Apple store, are there usually separate lines for pre-orders and walk-up customers, or is it one enormous line?

 

[bibbz]

RadioShack store manager here and i have some very interesting information if you guys don't already know this. Please quote this as much as possible to get the word out.



We offer a trade in program. We offer the most money on a trade in on the iPhones. As of 9:42pm on 6/8/10 these are the values...

These prices are taken off instantly from what you purchase(no mail in rebates) or applied to a gift card instantly. Your choice.
3Gs 32Gb - $271
3Gs 16Gb - $210
3G 16Gb - $149
3G 8Gb - $118
The older models are on the website as well, look for yourself...
http://radioshack.cexchange.com/onl...=sU4reD6QJWP5MQn1SwFn38CtURe9PcXAJv9fUpYciv8=

That means if you are eligible for the $199 price and trade in your 16gb 3Gs, we will instantly (no mail in rebates) take $210 off the $199 for the iPhone 4 and you will have a $10 balance either applied on a gift card, to the taxes, or towards an accessory, whatever you prefer.




Intrigued yet? Now follow me here...
Not sure if this will be the same policy on the iPhone 4, but the way its set up right now: The day you do an upgrade to any phone, you are immediately eligible for an "Early iPhone Upgrade". That means ATT tacks on a $200 early upgrade fee.

If you are currently not eligible for an upgrade, but eligible for an "Early iPhone Upgrade" (You will be, you always are, again even if you did an upgrade 5 minutes ago.) Now, that $199 iPhone 4 becomes $399. You can trade in your current model towards that $399 price.

Trade in a 16Gb 3Gs and the $399 Early upgrade on the iPhone 4 is now $189. If you need to, take a sec and read this again so you fully understand.

This is 100% accurate except there has been no announcement made for the "Early iPhone Upgrade" continuing on the iPhone 4. I very strongly believe it will. Also, the trade in values may drop a tad when the iPhone 4 launches, but look at the current prices we give on 3G's and original iPhones, it is still very good. You are not gonna get "eBay money" but you get a respectable amount and it is all taken care of instantly in the store. SPREAD THE WORD!!



Now, What do you think about getting your iPhone 4 at the shack? I'll see you there...

 

[dmx]

If you are currently not eligible for an upgrade, but eligible for an "Early iPhone Upgrade" (You will be, you always are, again even if you did an upgrade 5 minutes ago.) Now, that $199 iPhone 4 becomes $399. You can trade in your current model towards that $399 price.

How would I be eligible for the early upgrade? The ATT wireless site tells me.. .

iPhone Upgrade
You can take advantage of our no commitment pricing at a participating retail sales location. You may qualify for a full discount on a standard iPhone upgrade on 01/16/2011


Based off of that, I would think I am NOT eligible for early upgrade pricing..

 

[bibbz]

How would I be eligible for the early upgrade? The ATT wireless site tells me.. .

iPhone Upgrade
You can take advantage of our no commitment pricing at a participating retail sales location. You may qualify for a full discount on a standard iPhone upgrade on 01/16/2011


Based off of that, I would think I am NOT eligible for early upgrade pricing..

I'm not sure how it looks on ATT's website. when we log into att and check eligibility it will say..

No, customer is not eligible for an upgrade. Yes customer is eligible for an early iPhone upgrade.

Every account we log into says that if they are not eligible for a full upgrade. If they are eligible for a full upgrade, then it says...

Yes, customer is eligible for an upgrade.

Literally, if i upgrade you in my store right now bc you are eligible, log out, and log back in, it will say whats in the 1st quote.

Check in your local store tomorrow, or shoot me a pm with your cell and your billing zip code and i can tell you... If you're not comfortable with that i understand, check your local store and when they check it, ask them specifically about the "Early iPhone upgrade"