AT&T: iPhone pre-sales will not be allowed

In a pre-launch channel communications sales brief to its retail stores, wireless carrier AT&T has instructed employees not to form wait lists or conduct pre-sales for Apple's upcoming iPhone.

According to the internal document published at the BoyGeniusReport blog, the world's largest wireless carrier will soon provide its staffers with web based training, workbooks and other iPhone product overviews to help in preparation for next month's launch.

The memo also includes the following notes of interest:

"The exact date has not been announced, specific dates should not be provided to customers."
"Sales for the iPhone will be on a first come, first served basis.
No wait lists of names will be taken and NO pre-selling is allowed."
Two models of the iPhone will be available, a 4GB will retail at $499 and an 8GB will retail at $599."
"If asked what the price will be, answer that the prices have been announced as $499 for the 4G and $599 for the 8G, respectively."
"There should NOT be any additional speculation/discusson about pricing."
"AT&T will be the only wireless carrier in the U.S. launching the iPhone and will have exclusivity for the foreseeable future."

For those interested, a copy of the two-page memo can be seen in its entirety on the following page.

26 Comments

david_oc 77 comments · 20 Years

About 17 years ago

Sounds like this is the answer to all those stories which began:

A sales rep in my local Cingular/AT&T store said...

eagerdragon 318 comments · 17 Years

I come up blank on the image for some reason.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/Documents/iPhoneATT.pdf

kenaustus 909 comments · 21 Years

Pre-sales will not be allowed, but if your friend or family member works in one of those stores you'll find one waiting for you. The paperwork will have been filled out before and you won't even need to be first in line.

Speaking of lines, it will be interesting to see how many lines develop for the store opening on the first day. Apple Stores will probably have the best supply and the longest lines.

floccus 138 comments · 19 Years

"There should NOT be any additional speculation/discusson about pricing."

Sounds like there's going to be some nice pricing deals going on after the launch when sales start to cool off. And I wonder how many people are going to buy insurance and have their friend "steal" their phone from them so they can get a new one and sell the "old" one to europe or asia???