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Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 03:00 pm
Apple iPhone shoppers can now start buying process at home
Apple this week announced its new "Begin at Home" iPhone buying procedure which is designed to help accelerate sales of the device during the upcoming holiday shopping season.The process, which was detailed by AppleInsider over the weekend, lets shoppers enter their billing information and pre-qualify for iPhone's subsidized pricing from their home computer, and then make an appointment to pick up their new handset at a local Apple retail store.
The four-step process first requests that customers enter their credit card, billing address, age, and social security number so that an automated credit check can be performed. If successful, customers can then select a preferred calling plan and review their iPhone order.
"Once you’re done, choose your closest Apple Retail Store and let us know when you’d like to come in to complete your purchase," Apple says. "An Apple Specialist will be ready to help you personalize your new iPhone 3G, make calls, browse the web, receive email, and more."
Apple will still require that all iPhones undergo a final activation before leaving an Apple retail store.
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Previous Comments View All
I'll be picking up an iPhone soon but my wife just wants a regular phone when we switch to AT&T. Will I be able to do this preregistration thing for an AT&T store?
I'll have to see the G1 in person before I decide. 
I'll have to see the G1 in person before I decide.
What's up with the stupid renaming of phones by American service providers? HTC Dream is a much better name than T-mobile G1.
/Adrian
man, I wish they had something like this when I was in the market for a new iPhone. I ended up waiting in line 3 times and bailing out, finally I decided to place a pre-order from an AT&T store.
BTW the G1 looks and feels cheap.
LOL, if it was launched to day, I would have a hard decision to make, but I can't wait a month for the G1 to be released.
I'll have to see the G1 in person before I decide.
Apple's flow of selling an iPhone is absolutely ridiculous. If I see what I had to go trough to buy an iPhone was just stupid. My iPhone didn't even needed to be activated in a store as the iPhone has to be sold unlocked in Belgium. Still I needed to go pick up a phone at a physical store where they handed me a box and I had to activate the iPhone at home. Why couldn't I just buy the phone online and get it delivered at my door. Instead I had to contact my store on a regular basis to see if it finally arrived, wich it did 6 weeks later. Still don't understand the benefit of an iPhone being tied to only one provider as it makes such hassle to get the iPhone actually out to the customer. I Belgium you buy an iPhone, pop in a sim card from any provider, attach the iPhone to iTunes and you are ready to go.
Looks pretty awesome to me, but to each their own.
BTW the G1 looks and feels cheap.
..TMO is capping Data at 1G? WTF!
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So many cool phone to choose from. HTC HD, iPhone, and now the Google phone. It's gonna be a hard choice. But I'm leaning toward a iPhone. This process will most definitely make my decision a little easier.