Sam OliverSpeaking to Gizmodo, AT&T's President of National Distribution Glenn Lurie reportedly confirmed that there will be no in-home activation for iPhone 3G like there was with the original iPhone.
Instead, all iPhone 3G customers must have their new handsets activated in either an Apple or AT&T store, a process which "takes 10-12 minutes." This should do wonders for the first-day line on July 11, the gadget site speculates. (This was also confirmed during an AT&T conference call, AppleInsider has been told.)
Lurie said AT&T and Apple will provide more details regarding the sales procedures for the new iPhone sometime "in the next week or so." However, he said not to expect online sales of the iPhone 3G at launch, meaning a retail store may be the only place to snag one.
Separately, both Gizmodo and ArsTechnica are reporting that consumers who purchased an original iPhone on or after May 27 will be able swap it for an iPhone 3G at no cost.
The two reports add that AT&T will make all iPhone 3G buyers sign a new 2-year contract which will overwrite any existing contracts. That means AT&T won't tack an additional 2 years onto any existing contracts but will instead wipe existing contracts out and start fresh with a maximum 2-year commitment from the date the iPhone 3G was purchased.
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127 Comments
This will slow, but not stop the unlocking. Apple has created an antagonistic environment for consumers with their devil's contract with at&t.
That is going to be a long and nasty line...
Maybe the AppleStore people will know how to activate them more easily.
What an unbelievable PITA this is going to be. So much for getting them to move my existing phone to another line - that would take another 2 hours I am sure...
What fun.
This will slow, but not stop the unlocking. Apple has created an antagonistic environment for consumers with their devil's contract with at&t.
If you are required to sign up for a two year att agreement then and there whether purchasing the 3G iphone from an att or apple retail store, does that mean they will be doing the same standard practices across the world? Can you buy an iPhone from overseas? Or will you be tied in with the "carrier" representing that country and have to sign up for and pay for their plans as well.
Why would I want to buy a phone and have to sign up for a contract then and there then go home and "jailbreak" to go use some other carrier? I still would be receiving a monthly minutes bill from the carrier I don't want to be with, wouldn't I???
Or how much would it cost to cancel a phone minutes plan you just purchased to get out of a contract in order to get into a contract from a carrier you want to be with? How will a Jail broken iPhone help out with this?
In other significant news... Cisco, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Samsung and Sprint have formed a WiMax patent pool.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...orm-wimax.html
This will speed WiMax development and could potentially provide some competition for 4G (LTE). The window will be closing, so it'll be interesting to see how this goes.
I would think at the very least Apple will stay tied to AT&T for a minimum of 12 months. After 12 months rolls by, I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon got friendly with Apple. 24 months after the release of the 3G iPhone would seem more practical for a cut in one carrier only practice.
At this point, I am not sure what Apple is thinking about having their phone tied to one carrier. I don't see the value added in doing this, even if it means no visual voice mail.