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

[drb6]

Enfarce?

Go to Apple store, buy "$199" iPhone with credit card.

After purchase, close credit card....

Sounds great to me...

And what change your SS# too? They are doing a credit check. Granted, this seems like a very painful process for Apple to actually follow through and find such people. As I said, this whole thing seems very very unlikely but who knows.

 

[MAClover143]

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 think you are right on. You will pay 199/299 in the Apple store but with the iTunes activation your account will show your status and then prompt another payment.

 

[gkarris]

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...

This makes more sense. If you are not eligible, the $200 belongs to AT&T and will probably show up on your bill as it is the money needed to get out of your previous contract.

 

[MiniMark]

Borrow a friend's iPhone?

So can I borrow a friend's iPhone and activate it on my plan to qualify as someone who purchased an iPhone before July 11? Will he still be eligible as well as long as he doesn't cancel his service? ( I'll just give him his iPhone back right away. )

 

[firewood]

AT&T will put the difference on your first phone bill

Here's how it might work.

You will only have to pay the Apple store $199 + tax, but will be required to sign a new two year contract. If you are an AT&T customer who is not upgrade eligible, then AT&T will either add your new contract as a second line, or add an ETF to your first bill to cancel your old contract (which will be in the tiny fine print on your new contract. Gotcha!).

That way Apple stores can sell at the price Steve Jobs advertised, and AT&T will be the bad guy for holding you to your previous contract commitment if you are not upgrade eligible. But that's not part of the purchase price to walk out the store, and new customers and customers who are upgrade eligible won't see that fee at all.

 

[FSUSem1noles]

I think you are right on. You will pay 199/299 in the Apple store but with the iTunes activation your account will show your status and then prompt another payment.

That's what I heard from our Apple Rep for the School Board..

iTunes is going to show your status, now whether or not you can borrow a friends phone and do something that way, I do not know..

But the price at Apple stores will be 199/299, but you'll get nabbed during activation at home..

AT&T will be doing the screening in store..

 

[apb509]

Here's how it might work.

You will only have to pay the Apple store $199 + tax, but will be required to sign a new two year contract. If you are an AT&T customer who is not upgrade eligible, then AT&T will either add your new contract as a second line, or add an ETF to your first bill to cancel your old contract (which will be in the tiny fine print on your new contract. Gotcha!).

That way Apple stores can sell at the price Steve Jobs advertised, and AT&T will be the bad guy for holding you to your previous contract commitment if you are not upgrade eligible. But that's not part of the purchase price to walk out the store, and new customers and customers who are upgrade eligible won't see that fee at all.

Finally.. someone who is willing to think outside the box rather than just shut down anything other than what their AT&T Gods throw down to them via the press-release-lightning-bolt.

..THIS scenario actually makes sense, and still allows Apple to sell for $199/$299

 

[MiniMark]

Interesting

Given the scenario of paying Apple the 199/299 price, and AT&T charging you on your bill the extra 200 bucks, I can see 2 things happening:

1) Calling up AT&T after you get your first bill to try and get the charge removed.

2) A lot of current customers, unaware of the added charge like us on the forums here, going home and trying to activate but then once faced with an additional charge end up returning their phone to the store.

Just a thought..

 

[ballen420]

Finally.. someone who is willing to think outside the box rather than just shut down anything other than what their AT&T Gods throw down to them via the press-release-lightning-bolt.

..THIS scenario actually makes sense, and still allows Apple to sell for $199/$299

Provide to the public for $199/$299. They are selling the phones for closer to $499/$599 (or even greater)...to AT&T.

It absolutely makes sense that you will need to sign a contract at the Apple store...with all your information. You fail to activate it, AT&T will take the responsibility of hounding you down, and most likely destroying your credit if you don't pay.

Apple isn't going to take the hit on selling a $199/$299 phone. They want their full unsubsidized price for it.

 

[cmiller2687]

I Talked To At&t

As said in some of the iLounge forums, AT&T has told anyone that calls that if they are a current 2G iPhone customer, they will be offered the full discount on the 3G iPhone on and after the release date of July 11th REGARDLESS OF CONTRACT TENURE. If you call AT&T as a current 2G plan holder now, they will notate your account and you will be promised the $199/299 price point beginning July 11th. I am not the only one that has done this...

 

[cyclone84]

As said in some of the iLounge forums, AT&T has told anyone that calls that if they are a current 2G iPhone customer, they will be offered the full discount on the 3G iPhone on and after the release date of July 11th REGARDLESS OF CONTRACT TENURE. If you call AT&T as a current 2G plan holder now, they will notate your account and you will be promised the $199/299 price point beginning July 11th. I am not the only one that has done this...

Word. That's what I did and got my account noted. Of note, I bought the 2G last year, sold it a month ago, removed the iPhone data plan, and I can still get the $199/299 price.

 

[cmiller2687]

I sold mine a couple weeks ago but kept the iPhone data plan JUST INCASE. It was worth the extra $20 to make sure I didn't get screwed by some fine print come July 11th. So far my crappy Motorola has done me just wonderful.

 

[marksman]

I just spoke with AT&T Store in Westfarms Mall in CT about beating the system.. He said using a friends iPhone for 3 days and upgrading on July 11th should work to get me the $199/$299 pricing.

He ALSO said somebody came in saying they were told by Apple employees at the store across the mall that they were selling phones for $199/$299 no matter what.

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.

The AT&T store manager said there's really no way the company could go back and charge me the extra $200 for getting the iPhone for the $199/$299 price despite not being upgrade eligible if I were to buy it from Apple for a cheaper price.


Can others call their Apple stores to see if this is what they're being told as well!?!

Sounds to me like you talked to some pretty ill-informed Apple employees.

I would add to this that the Apple and AT&T databases have been intertwined since the original iPhone. Since all activations were done via iTunes.

Now we know for a fact retail stores have a special version of iTunes to do in-store activations. It is clear that those people you talked to are 100% wrong.

Not surprising though as Apple has not had their training yet and won't for a few more days.

 

[marksman]

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.

You signed a legally binding contract.

Why did you not review it?

 

[cmiller2687]

Yes, Apple employees are being trained on July 6th on how to use the AT&T activation system. The phones will be activated in AT&T and Apple stores. There have been rumors about a separate line for current 2G iPhone customers. It just depends on what happens on the 6th, so WAIT UNTIL THEN!

 

[marksman]

That's what I heard from our Apple Rep for the School Board..

iTunes is going to show your status, now whether or not you can borrow a friends phone and do something that way, I do not know..

But the price at Apple stores will be 199/299, but you'll get nabbed during activation at home..

AT&T will be doing the screening in store..

That doesn't make sense. AT&T activation will be done in store via iTunes. There is no reason why the Apple Store can't do the same. And everything has said that you will not leave the store without them activating the phone.

Since it is done via iTunes all the less likely you are leaving the Apple Store without it done.

 

[tritonj]

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.

aside from the fact that i don't know how the rep could have answered regarding the new iPhone, since it didn't exist at the time, i'm not quite sure why you would switch at that time if you knew you wanted a new iPhone when the new one came out. you said it yourself you had t-mobile service, so why switch early, there is no benefit

you created this headache for yourself, why don't you just sell the blackberry and use the money toward your iPhone? ATT has decided they won't be allowing people to double dip, plain and simple, for those who thought they could pull a fast one on them, you guessed wrong move on, and wait for the next chance to, it's a game, everyone wants to get the best deal, i'm not blaming you for trying to save money, i always try to find the angle, the loophole to get the best deal for myself, but you lost this round, now move on. there will be many more chances to get the upper hand

 

[djransom]

Word. That's what I did and got my account noted. Of note, I bought the 2G last year, sold it a month ago, removed the iPhone data plan, and I can still get the $199/299 price.

That's cool, but will the retail stores be able to view these notes to verify this is indeed true. If not, then I see this being a huge problem for some.

 

[WannaSwitch]

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.

I think I'm in the camp with some of the others here on this. I have a Palm Treo 680 and I'm not "upgrade eligible" until January of 2009. I got an iPhone for my wife in February (her end date was the same as mine) but it was a full price thing then and just replaced the phone she was using. No real change to the contract date as we just had to add the iPhone data plan. I knew I was going to get an iPhone when the 3G came out, and I was expecting to pay the full price as that's the way they had been doing it. I was prepared for $399 for an 8GB. When I saw they were doing the subsidy, I thought, oh well, sure would be nice if I was upgrade eligible. But, since I've still got time on my contract, I'm going to have to pay full price for ANY phone I get if I want a new one, iPhone, Blackberry, whatever. Or I could wait until January.

I don't want to wait until January, I'll pony up the $399 (actually, probably get the 16GB so $499). If I knew I would save $200, I would have bought an iPhone for myself when I got my wife's. Of course, I would have paid $399 for it then . . . so I would be out an extra $200 anyway. Something tells me this whole discussion just doesn't matter...

The information that the AT&T store rep gave you two months ago was right, as far as they knew it. Reps in the store had NO clue as to what Apple and AT&T were planning on the pricing or subsidies for this, and there's no way they would have known. That stuff just doesn't flow down to them until the official announcements. Hard to blame the store rep for that.

 

[LittleJon]

I had just learned today about the pricing for those uneligible for the upgrade being 399/499 and was a bit upset seeing how i will eligible on the 25th which i could wait out but, 1) am in need of a new phone badly and 2) would simply like it sooner than later. So i called AT&T today and asked a rep if since i wasn't eligible for an upgrade until the 25th but wanted it on opening day if i would charged the 399/499 price, she put me on hold for just about 30secs and came back and told me i would be eligible for the 199/299 price. so either there still up in the air about how there going to price things, or, even now that they've released the pricing they're reps still don't know whats going on.

 

[tritonj]

I had just learned today about the pricing for those uneligible for the upgrade being 399/499 and was a bit upset seeing how i will eligible on the 25th which i could wait out but, 1) am in need of a new phone badly and 2) would simply like it sooner than later. So i called AT&T today and asked a rep if since i wasn't eligible for an upgrade until the 25th but wanted it on opening day if i would charged the 399/499 price, she put me on hold for just about 30secs and came back and told me i would be eligible for the 199/299 price. so either there still up in the air about how there going to price things, or, even now that they've released the pricing they're reps still don't know whats going on.

i believe that since you are so close, only a 2 weeks out from eligibility that they will just let it slide

 

[WannaSwitch]

I had just learned today about the pricing for those uneligible for the upgrade being 399/499 and was a bit upset seeing how i will eligible on the 25th which i could wait out but, 1) am in need of a new phone badly and 2) would simply like it sooner than later. So i called AT&T today and asked a rep if since i wasn't eligible for an upgrade until the 25th but wanted it on opening day if i would charged the 399/499 price, she put me on hold for just about 30secs and came back and told me i would be eligible for the 199/299 price. so either there still up in the air about how there going to price things, or, even now that they've released the pricing they're reps still don't know whats going on.

So, either AT&T hasn't decided how they are going to price things, or the reps don't know what's going on? How about, the rep saw you were two weeks out, put you on hold for a second to make sure she could do it, and marked you for upgrade to keep you as a customer? Sounds like a good thing to do, to me, why the negativity?

 

[LittleJon]

i've checked my account since and it's still says im eligible on the 25th, my concern is going and waiting in line only to have them say sorry either pay the 399/499 or wait tell the 25th. the rep said nothing about changing my eligiblity, only that i would be eligible. I plan on going and waiting in line i just hope they'll let it slide with it being so close.

Also the rep told me that i was good for a 10% company discount for my work, which i thought doesn't go along with the new iphone is that correct?

 

[firewood]

Some carriers actually make you "upgrade eligible" a month or two before your current contract expires and then tries hard to sell you a new (cheep or free even) phone. This traps you into a new 2 year contract before the old one expires and lets you go shopping around for a different carrier.

 

[rowensiv]

okay, so what would stop me from going to the apple store (or an att store for that matter), buying it for $199 with a visa gift card for the proper amount.

then, apple couldnt 'get you' for not activating within 30 days. the credit card would be denied. what if you went to the att store, signed up, refused to give your SS#, used the gift card, and put ur address as a random po box?

at that point, you could then UNLOCK it to still end up using on at&t. haha