Activation
I don't know if anyone has brought this up, but it's something I had been thinking about for a couple of days. Since the iPhone will be sold as a "Locked" phone, activation will need to be required at purchase. Or worse, is an iPhone buyer going to have to wait all day in line for an iPhone, then drive over to an AT&T store and wait in another HUGE line to get it activated? This would mean major PR headaches for both companies.
As anyone who has had to go to a cellular store and buy a phone, get a plan and then get the phone activated, this usually turns out to be a 45 minute to an hour ordeal. All the while, people are waiting behind you in frustration. Now, can you imagine this same process when dealing with all the hoopla over the iPhone? Major mess! I don't believe Apple nor AT&T would want this.
So this is the question. How are the Apple stores going to be dealing with this? Obviuosly, the AT&T stores will have no problem with this. Buy the iPhone, then get it activated right there at the store. Because of all the extra man-power and security AT&T is going to have to supply to all of their 1,800 stores, I seriously doubt AT&T is going to be sending ADDITIONAL personel to all of the 180 Apple stores.
Apple and AT&T are telling (via their emails sent out to people opting to get info on the iPhone) that you will need an iTunes account. But if you look at the language, it sounds like they are saying you will need your iTunes name and password at time of "purchase" or at least on "activation" and not just for syncing your contacts, calendars, etc. This is what they said in their email:
"To set up your iPhone, you’ll need an account with Apple’s iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don’t have an account, you should set one up now to save time later."
So this is what I predict will happen. I think that activation will actually happen through the iTunes store. I think that a user will end up selecting his or her own data and voice plan via iTunes, just like any othe purchase. You connect your iPhone, it starts up iTunes, the iTunes store comes up and you buy your plan throught it. This way, both the At&T stores as well as all the Apple stores can get people activated. I think this could possibly be part of the unveiled displays that the stores are preparing. You could get it activated there at the store or at a later time. What will probably happen is that you will end up signing a general contract, but the actual selection of plans and so forth will have to be done via iTunes. This way, you could also opt out to do the actual "activation" of the phone until you get home and get a chance to read all the fine print before any purchase.
Any thoughts?
