Many people have had success when they call and ask for it to be waived, though.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Streamlines iPhone 3G Sales with Online Signups
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why are they wasting time on this?? They have 7 days to make good about their push notifications and background app ability. They shouldn't be wasting time. They better come through on this because their last update was lots of promises with little follow through. Apple needs to restore iPhone users faith. People aren't going to buy iPhones if their freinds all say they suck.
Damn.
Pretty cool move, Apple. Hopefully, for the next iPhone, you can just choose your plan, phone (size and color) a couple days before the iPhone actually comes out- lines would zoom!
Or if they went back to the iPhone v1 sales model you could walk in, purchase your phone then go home and deal with all the ATT stuff.
I still find it impossible to comprehend that you cannot buy an iPhone 3G as a gift.
I prefer letting the activation be done at the store, because then your iPhone is right there upfront. but then this causes irritably long lines.
I think that with the situation that we have now, with being forced to activate it in-store, this could be a really good solution. I wouldn't mind it- next iPhone launch, those things would be leaving the store like hotcakes.
(Plus- buying it and activating it at home would most likely raise the iPhone's price.)
Are we sure there will be a third generation iPhone next summer? I am tempted to buy now but still have a contract on my BlackBerry until the New Year, I could go Pay as You Go now however, and then sell the 9 month old phone when I upgrade.
I wonder how many PAYG iPhones have been sold so far?
I wonder how many PAYG iPhones have been sold so far?
I'm assuming they tact on the deposit after the fact if you have no credit, correct? Or, is the price at the end screen the one you pay in the store? I'm confused. I don't really have credit, just a credit card that I haven't used in four years.
the 2nd time i went, at an apple store to replace my previous 3G, it took 5 minutes. When i went to the ATT store the first day, it took over an hour. I wanted to swap phones, white for black, so i sold the white and bought a new black. got a 100 bucks in the process
Well I just tried to use this service, and it didn't do anything, it just set up a appointment at the Apple store. Anyone else having problems using this?
I went to an AT&T store and my credit was denied. I just applied through the Apple site and I was approved.
*shrug*
Does anyone know if they run a credit check during the pre approval process?
I wonder if a credit check was run.I'm assuming they tact on the deposit after the fact if you have no credit, correct? Or, is the price at the end screen the one you pay in the store? I'm confused. I don't really have credit, just a credit card that I haven't used in four years.
I'm assuming that's what the SSN was for, but this whole process has been vague for me. Everything works fine and I get the $199 price + activation fee but I don't want to head into the store and have them tell me different.
I think, at this point, I'll just do an in-store purchase.
I've tried three times in the past three hours. I tried from two different machines on three different browsers. All three times, it gets to the third stage and then just keeps reloading the page. Frustrating.
Regards
John
Still does not match the ease of the first gen iphone where I got it in the mail, plugged it in, transfered my account info from my old razor to my new iphone in the activation on itunes and *presto!* it was working about ten minutes later.
This still doesn't help
This still doesn't help me. I am preapproved for ATT wireless because of my payment history from home and internet service, but I cannot go to an Apple or ATT store to get an iPhone because this preapproval does not count with them. Does anyone have any ideas how I can work this out?
This still doesn't help me. I am preapproved for ATT wireless because of my payment history from home and internet service, but I cannot go to an Apple or ATT store to get an iPhone because this preapproval does not count with them. Does anyone have any ideas how I can work this out?
They have changed the site to HTTPS now.
For those that were stuck on step 3, it appears to be fixed now. Must have been down during the switch to a secure link.
Doubt it. The long lines were mostly the result of the iTunes activation servers being overwhelmed, not the pre-sale credit check.
If this IS true, is there a window of opportunity (14 - 30 days?) to return a recently purchased 3G to get the newest one?
What the hell is the point to that?! It only takes the Genius 5 minutes to do that while you stand there next to them (maybe they should use a real computer instead of those hand held devices and they could do the same thing in 45 seconds?).
Is this just for people with really bad credit (like Wall Street?) so they won't be there when the alarms go off (a la the Simpson's circa 1991)?
Agreed. This In-Store activation scheme makes no sense whatsoever. I remember Larry Ellison talking about the outmoded way in which software is sold -- in a box, in a store, instead of just direct downloads.
This is the exact same thing. Wait, so I buy online, then go down to the store to have someone turn it on for me? Ridiculous.
The activation process for the 1st gen iphone was brilliant (and in line with the activation process for every other phone I've had). This process is just stupid and absurd. We know there is no technical reason for it; I suspect it is just a policy aimed to create more foot traffic at retail stores and more whim purchases.
