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Apple Stores Selling iPhones for $199/$299 No Matter What!

ankushpatel said:
think about it logically how will apple be making money off the iphone then?

this is a load of bull, nothing is official as of yet, and half the time the stores just speak off things they dont know.
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I'm sure this has been said many times before...

but again... the site is called MacRumors for a reason. Don't get your panties all in a bunch. I was just relaying what I was told and hoping anybody else has a non-cynical bone in their body and can hope this might be the case. Clearly nothing is to be confirmed until we all walk into a store on 7/11.
 
This could very well be likely, BUT you will probably get the additional charge of the $100/$200 on your phone bill.

Case closed.
 
nickspohn said:
This could very well be likely, BUT you will probably get the additional charge of the $100/$200 on your phone bill.

Case closed.
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On what grounds would they be able to charge that? You could have purchased it off a friend the day after he/she bought it. AT&T can't keep pulling profits off an item when its resold, other than thru their plans.
 
apb509 said:
On what grounds would they be able to charge that? You could have purchased it off a friend the day after he/she bought it. AT&T can't keep pulling profits off an item when its resold, other than thru their plans.
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The extra charge will be the early termination fee for your previous contract
 
shadyInCA said:
The extra charge will be the early termination fee for your previous contract
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You wouldn't be cancelling your previous contract. Just as an upgrade eligible or anybody w/ any iPhone before July 11th won't cancel their contract.. rather, the new iPhone resets your contract to a full 2-yr term again.
 
apb509 said:
2 months ago I switched to AT&T and bought a $30 cheapo refurb Blackberry for a reason--I wanted to switch to the iPhone--I was told then that everybody pays same price, I wouldn't get any sort of discount if I waited until if and when it actually came out--I think I have a legitimate right to be upset and feel frauded. I'm using a USED phone that I paid nothing for because I expected to have the new iPhone in my hands by mid-summer.. I didn't think paying another $200 would be in store. I had no issues waiting 3 more months on T-Mobile--not only would I have saved $200 off price of the iPhone, I would have been paying $40 less PER MONTH for those 3 months.

Absolute junk... I hope I manage to find a way around this.
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I feel your pain, because I did the same thing. Bought a refurb LG originally worth $50, free after discount. It sucks for us but we made a decision based on what happened last year, and how they sold the first iPhone. Which was wrong, and not Apple or AT&T's fault. They have every right to change their requirements and their approach.

We just had bad luck and I wish at least the difference wouldn't have been as much. But thats life. I was disappointed and angry even, but I still don't think they were frauds, just businesses.
 
apb509 said:
On what grounds would they be able to charge that? You could have purchased it off a friend the day after he/she bought it. AT&T can't keep pulling profits off an item when its resold, other than thru their plans.
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Because you broke your contract.
 
Is it possible that the Apple store will only sell to people who are new to ATT and send upgraders to the ATT store? I don't see how they could deal with people with existing contracts if it is true they have no access to that information (which doesn't really make any sense)
 
nickspohn said:
Because you broke your contract.
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Uhh.. you're not understanding whatsoever. You can buy phones and use them on your contract with AT&T without breaking your contract. It's like buying a phone off eBay... AT&T doesn't make you cancel your contract and start all over again. The contract isn't linked to what phone you have, only your upgrade eligibility to get a subsidized phone is.
 
Woot!

Just got off the phone with my local apple store. They also say that all 8 gig iPhones will be 199
 
apb509 said:
Uhh.. you're not understanding whatsoever. You can buy phones and use them on your contract with AT&T without breaking your contract. It's like buying a phone off eBay... AT&T doesn't make you cancel your contract and start all over again. The contract isn't linked to what phone you have, only your upgrade eligibility to get a subsidized phone is.
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you cant get another phone subsidized from AT&T because they subsidized your first phone, why is that difficult to comprehend
 
FnMikeK said:
Just got off the phone with my local apple store. They also say that all 8 gig iPhones will be 199
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Uh, you guys are all missing the point here. Apple may be selling all 3G iPhones for 199/299, but *when you activate with AT&T*, you may be in for a surprise. I understand all the arguments about "what if you bought it off a friend who canceled their contract for $1", etc., but AT&T is NOT going to let people around the subsidy. Trust me.

You will either have to:

1. Activate it on a new AT&T plan.

2. Replace an existing AT&T plan. If it is not upgrade eligible, you WILL be paying (e.g., $200).

Also, AT&T and Apple have both said that iPhones purchased at Apple stores will be subject to a "penalty" if they are not activated within 30 days. So there is also some mechanism for tracking this. I don't know the details or the logistics, but don't be so sure you can skirt the subsidy, because you almost certainly cannot.
 
apb509 said:
On what grounds would they be able to charge that? You could have purchased it off a friend the day after he/she bought it. AT&T can't keep pulling profits off an item when its resold, other than thru their plans.
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Irregardless, I think Apple stores will have the ability to at least notify the AT&T servers or something. They're getting training for the process July 6th.
 
iPaul said:
you cant get another phone subsidized from AT&T because they subsidized your first phone, why is that difficult to comprehend
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You're not buying it subsidized FROM AT&T per se... you're buying it from Apple, although AT&T subsidizes. If there's a lack of communication between the two and I'm all for taking advantage of it.

On a side note.. you can get more than one subsidized phone--what do you think those who are "upgrade eligible" are doing?
 
silly silly silly

If the Apple store are selling iPhone 3G... it won't be at the subsidised price. I'm guessing owners ineligible for an upgrade will have to pay the full price for an iPhone/ the pay as you go price. (for the 8GB and 16GB, £299 and £359 respectively in the UK).
 
drb6 said:
I feel your pain, because I did the same thing. Bought a refurb LG originally worth $50, free after discount. It sucks for us but we made a decision based on what happened last year, and how they sold the first iPhone. Which was wrong, and not Apple or AT&T's fault. They have every right to change their requirements and their approach.

We just had bad luck and I wish at least the difference wouldn't have been as much. But thats life. I was disappointed and angry even, but I still don't think they were frauds, just businesses.
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Same story for me. But put it this way, based on the previous model, you were expecting to pay $399/499 anyway right? So that stays the same regardless of the now available discount.

At least in my case I was able to confrim that ATT service was just as good (if not better) than Verizon in my locale. Was that worth $200? Heck no, but what can you do?
 
As far as I understand, because I've done it before, you can get a phone from a third party...ebay, gift, hand-me-down...and activate it on your in-contract plan even if you're not upgrade eligible from AT&T. They just wont discount another phone from their inventory until you are eligible.

If Apple is in fact selling it without strings then what the OP is saying is indeed a loophole which then makes it extremely improbable that this is true at all. And like someone else just said, Apple has some way to ensure you activate within 30 days. You probably can't pay cash. :cool:
 
iP2 said:
Same story for me. But put it this way, based on the previous model, you were expecting to pay $399/499 anyway right? So that stays the same regardless of the now available discount.
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Ahh yes, too true. But its the knowledge isn't it that you could have.... :rolleyes:

And to the OP, while it would be great if this were true (cuz it makes us feel less bad about the turn of events), it doesn't make much sense. And even if AT&T is kind of a dunce of a company, Apple sure isn't.
 
apb509 said:
I called the apple store myself, and lo and behold, I was told the SAME THING. The employee said that they have no way of calibrating w/ AT&T systems and, as of what his store knows right now, will only be selling the iPhones for the Steve-Jobs-advertised $199/$299 pricing point.
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A friend of a friend who's 2nd cousin works at an Apple Store told him that Apple will be dropping the price of the Touch to $99/$199 to be in line with the new iPhones as well... :eek:
 
gkarris said:
A friend of a friend who's 2nd cousin works at an Apple Store told him that Apple will be dropping the price of the Touch to $99/$199 to be in line with the new iPhones as well... :eek:
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What that Apple store guy told him may still be true since Apple will have this 30 day thing going on and your credit info, they will be able to enforce it.
 
From what I've heard, the verification is going to be run through iTunes... so you'll be able to buy it for the 199/299 price point, but if you're not eligible to upgrade when you go through the iTunes process it's going to come up that you're not eligible .. and you're going to have to pay the additional fee, now whether or not you have to pay it on the spot via CC or Debit card or AT&T charges your phone bill, I do not know...

Also through the new iTunes process using a bogus SS number doesn't work, if you use a bogus SS you'll automatically fail the CC check and it's going to require you to pay a deposit before you can complete the iTunes activation process...
 
i just see a lot of wish thinking here, think about it, if this were actually true it is a huge loophole and ATT would be screwing themselves, and to be honest, and incompetent and i think ATT is, i don't think they can screw up this bad. if it is a loopwhole now, i'm sure it will be fixed by launch
 
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