It is not poor logic. You said that At&t has exclusive rights in regards to the selling of the phone, which is totally and completely incorrect. If they had exclusive rights to its sale, Apple, as I originally pointed out, although the manufacturer, would not be able to sell it in their stores, which Apple would not allow to happen. At&t's exclusiveness extends only to cell service. My Walmart point was in reference to the possibility of RS and BB selling the phone. IF Apple was going to let BB and RS sell the iPhone, they could also allow Walmart should they choose to expand their distribution in this direction. Your use of exclusivity is incorrectly applied and/or understood by you.
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Best Buy and Radio Shack to Sell iPhone 3G?
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It is not poor logic. You said that At&t has exclusive rights in regards to the selling of the phone, which is totally and completely incorrect. If they had exclusive rights to its sale, Apple, as I originally pointed out, although the manufacturer, would not be able to sell it in their stores, which Apple would not allow to happen. At&t's exclusiveness extends only to cell service. My Walmart point was in reference to the possibility of RS and BB selling the phone. IF Apple was going to let BB and RS sell the iPhone, they could also allow Walmart should they choose to expand their distribution in this direction. Your use of exclusivity is incorrectly applied and/or understood by you.
You are all missing the other part of the equation. ATT NEEDS its franchise stores and kiosks in Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Malls. If I was paying good money for an ATT Franchise, and I was denied access to the phone that all my potential customers want, I'm going to be pissed. And when it comes time to renew, I may just switch over to TMobile, Sprint, or Verizon.
ATT has a responsibility to maintain its relationships with the 3rd party vending stations that have allowed them to build their empire.
Apple has surrendered nearly all of its proprietary ******** surrounding the iphone business model, BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK. The iPhone is now just another cell phone, its priced like another cell phone, and it will be sold like another cell phone.
Here is the kicker, that seals this deal. Non-ATT owned stores get paid per contract/activation. Because apple wouldn't allow activation anywhere but at home, this made it impossible for the 3rd parties to make money selling the iphone. That barrier is gone. The iPhone will eventually be available from every ATT Retailer, including Wal-Mart. Maybe not on July 11th, but it will happen, and soon.
ATT has a responsibility to maintain its relationships with the 3rd party vending stations that have allowed them to build their empire.
Apple has surrendered nearly all of its proprietary ******** surrounding the iphone business model, BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK. The iPhone is now just another cell phone, its priced like another cell phone, and it will be sold like another cell phone.
Here is the kicker, that seals this deal. Non-ATT owned stores get paid per contract/activation. Because apple wouldn't allow activation anywhere but at home, this made it impossible for the 3rd parties to make money selling the iphone. That barrier is gone. The iPhone will eventually be available from every ATT Retailer, including Wal-Mart. Maybe not on July 11th, but it will happen, and soon.
I bought my second phone at Radioshack. Great experience. Much better than going to the Sprint store and waiting for 2 hours, only to have the moron not know what they're talking about.
Or even better, going to an ATT store...waiting for 30 minutes and then having them try to sell you stuff you don't want.
Radioshack was actually very helpful when I bought my phone there. They pulled it out, ran my card, set it up, and I was off. Don't diss what you don't use
Or even better, going to an ATT store...waiting for 30 minutes and then having them try to sell you stuff you don't want.
Radioshack was actually very helpful when I bought my phone there. They pulled it out, ran my card, set it up, and I was off. Don't diss what you don't use
Thats the best way to put it. Its sold just like a normal cell phone - activation required.
I personally believe that by late this summer we'll see the 3G iPhone sold at Best Buy.
Because Best Buy already is a major reseller of AT&T cellphone service and now tremendously expanding their Apple presence, Best Buy could get Apple's blessing to sell the 3G iPhone pretty quickly.
Because Best Buy already is a major reseller of AT&T cellphone service and now tremendously expanding their Apple presence, Best Buy could get Apple's blessing to sell the 3G iPhone pretty quickly.
wait there just a minute...
best buy prices are the exact same prices you get in apple stores...right ?
or, would that mean, that you could get an iphone 3g unlocked without that dumb contract... even so, what would the price be?
it's definetly not going to be $199.... in europe it will be priced 500 eu = $830 witch is still alot!
but don't know about the us price...
i've understood by now, that you could pay $175 so you could cancel the contract with att and keep the device..but only after 30 days...
so
175+199 = $374 did i get something wrong ?
best buy prices are the exact same prices you get in apple stores...right ?
or, would that mean, that you could get an iphone 3g unlocked without that dumb contract... even so, what would the price be?
it's definetly not going to be $199.... in europe it will be priced 500 eu = $830 witch is still alot!
but don't know about the us price...
i've understood by now, that you could pay $175 so you could cancel the contract with att and keep the device..but only after 30 days...
so
175+199 = $374 did i get something wrong ?
Haha, not to be that guy, but it's fuel. Unless it's purposefull/meant for humor. /le sigh
I believe it. From this post, it seems Best Buy people are already capitalizing in the wrong place, so the iPhone is right up their iAlley.
Well this is an interesting situation - certainly Apple wouldn't want people to go to Best Buy (or an AT&T store) rather than go to an Apple store but how many people would be buying accessories at an AT&T store? I would almost contend that AT&T would be happier if they could off load some of the demand to Best Buy. It would cut back on the # of employees they have to have on hand and they are still going to be making all their money via the contract.
Of course that's assuming AT&T doesn't sell that many accessories - if they do then I'm sure they'd rather have people visit them in store. As far as Apple is concern this would be brilliant - there's a lot of people who think about a new phone but don't go into AT&T stores because, well, cell phone stores are pushy but they still go to Best Buy to pick up TV's, DVR's, DVD's, whatever and maybe they'll stop and play with an iPhone and get hooked. That could really work! Radio Shack is still a no-go tho as they are, at least around here, a dying company...
No you wouldn't get an unlocked iPhone. Best Buy and Radio shack are authorized resellers for both Apple and AT&T.
A friend of mine worked at Radio Shack last year. They're rated as sales people almost entirely by how many cell phones they sell. Being an AT&T partner, nothing irritated him more than when the iPhone came out. Lots of people buy their phones at Radio Shack, because it's typically less busy than AT&T stores, and they often offer their own discounts on top of whatever AT&T is running. But for months after the iPhone launch people would walk into the store, ask if they had the iPhone, and he'd have to cringe as he suggested they check the AT&T store nearby. A lost (and easy) sale.
But it's not just an argument that Apple and AT&T should be nice to their third-parties. Fact is, after a week of missing out on hundreds of iPhone sales, Radio Shack started sending out memos suggesting ways of countering the iPhone hype, trying to switch customers coming in asking for an iPhone to something else. What neither Apple nor AT&T need are their own partners spreading anti-marketing about their newest hot product.
The iPhone's being sold like a regular phone now. There's no reason for this rumour not to be true.
But it's not just an argument that Apple and AT&T should be nice to their third-parties. Fact is, after a week of missing out on hundreds of iPhone sales, Radio Shack started sending out memos suggesting ways of countering the iPhone hype, trying to switch customers coming in asking for an iPhone to something else. What neither Apple nor AT&T need are their own partners spreading anti-marketing about their newest hot product.
The iPhone's being sold like a regular phone now. There's no reason for this rumour not to be true.
Since you seem to have this delusion that that Apple products can only be bought from the Apple store, I'm going to have to set the record straight here. Apple Stores exist only in Metro areas of half a million people or more. AT&T Stores are available in most 200,000 metros. That leaves many people having to drive several hours to get an iPhone. There used to be on the online store option but because of the subsidy, sales are now limited to retail store sales. However, that subsidy also opens the phone up to authorized agents. Best Buy (full Apple line) and Radio Shack (Ipods only) are both authorized AT&T agents and authorized resellers of Apple products and have far more locations. I know it may cheapen the experience to the rabid form of Mac fan, but leaving 75% of the population taking a day trip to get an Iphone isn't going to generate too many sales.
...because we all know that Apple can't ever change its mind about these things. Please don't be so condescending next time you feel a need to chime in.
As far as BB goes - why not? The they seem to have a much better relationship with Apple than at any time in the past. There are large dedicated "Apple Stores" within BB locations and are staffing their departments with actual Mac users, so the experience is much better than it was. I know in my local BB the computer department actually starts off by offering Macs. I know this is because there is more profit in selling Macs, but if they have Apple users pushing Macs, then those same Apple users can - and will - help with iPhone customers.
I see it as a big positive.
216 Apple stores world wide. All located in 500,000+ person large Metros
800+ Best Buys in the United States and 131 BB-owned Future Shops. Located in cities as small as 30,000. The closer a product is to the consumer, the higher the chance he/she is going to go out and buy it.
You are so right. I live in Podunk, Idaho and I would have had to drive 6 HOURS to even see the first iPhone. I heard of an old aquaintance coming through town with one and that's when I got to touch one for the first time ....
Apple would be smart to put it in as many places as possible. Oh, and they sell all the other iPods at Wal-mart ...
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)
Though I don't really see this happening, it does make sense as a possibility. Best Buy does sell Apple products now as well as activate and sell AT&T cellular service and phones. Radio Shack also sells AT&T service and phones. I think that is less likely at Radio Shack since they don't currently sell Apple products but the possibility exists that we could see the new iPhone at both places.
On a side note, if you purchased it at Best Buy, I wonder if you will be able to get reward zone points for it. Just a thought.
Though I don't really see this happening, it does make sense as a possibility. Best Buy does sell Apple products now as well as activate and sell AT&T cellular service and phones. Radio Shack also sells AT&T service and phones. I think that is less likely at Radio Shack since they don't currently sell Apple products but the possibility exists that we could see the new iPhone at both places.
On a side note, if you purchased it at Best Buy, I wonder if you will be able to get reward zone points for it. Just a thought.
Woah cowboy. Watch who you're calling moron (especially when you can't spell "fuel" correctly).
Best Buy and Radio Shack ALREADY HAVE the infrastructure to sell, create, and activate cell phone contracts with AT&T Wireless. Adding the iPhone 3G to their existing stock of cell phones would not take the parting of the Red Sea.
HA! You must have never bought a phone at the ATT store.
Apple and BB have been getting along great lately so I would not be shocked to see them offer it. Radio Shack sells a heck of a lot of phones even though they have horrible stores and poor customer service, so no shock there either since it seems the goal now is volume, volume, volume.
Now the curious thing is that when stores like BB sell phones they get a commission from the CellCo. That is how they make money selling phones. Many times these commissions are so large that the stores will offer incentives above the normal subsidized rate. If that holds there could be some sweet iPhone deals come Xmas time.
Considering I went to an AT&T store today and was given a photo copied price list and they can give no detail other than they will have the iPhone at 8 AM on July 11th I doubt it.
Why not 7-11. They sell phones and calling cards. I plan on ordering my iPhone at McDonald's on July 11th. I've heard the clown wished it to happen and they're giving an iPhone with every Happy Meal.
I'll see if Burger King has it first. I like their fries.
ALWAYS REMEMBER... YOU READ IT ON THE INTERNET! IT MUST BE TRUE.
Spoke to Diane at the Radio Shack near my house this morning and she confirmed taht only AT&T's corporate stores (her language) would be selling the iPhone 3G. Take it for what it's worth.