AT&T resumes online iPhone sales to New York City residents

AT&T has resumed taking iPhone orders from New York City residents through its website after blocking the sale of the handsets to New Yorkers this past weekend for reasons the carrier has been unwilling to explain in detail.

The sales suspension drew hundreds of headlines from technology websites on Monday, fueling suspicions that the move was yet another sign that the exclusive US iPhone carrier was unable to support the brunt of the handset's popularity in dense metropolitan areas.

That sentiment was fueled by a comment from an AT&T online customer service representative by the name of Daphne who told a journalist that the iPhone was no longer available for purchase online by New York City residents "because New York is not ready for the iPhone."

"[Your area doesn't] have enough towers to handle the phone," the rep added.

AT&T's corporate spokespeople would later say the sales blackout was a result of the carrier periodically modifying its promotions and distribution channels, while online service rep Daphne jettisoned her earlier explanation in favor of blaming the move on "increased fraudulent activity" in New York City and the surrounding areas.

In recent months, AT&T has come under fire from customers and larger rival Verizon Wireless, who've combined to charge the carrier in a series of lawsuits and television spots with making false promises regarding the capacity and reach of its mobile 3G network.

The Dallas-based firm has yet to provide a clear explanation for this weekend's sales stoppage.

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26 Comments

mactripper

said about 14 years ago

AT&T didn't want handle the NY/NJ holiday iPhone traffic (or was trying to screw Apple over, which this I highly doubt.)

The "fraud" and "NY can't handle the iPhone" excuses are ruses. As with fraud you don't cut off all sales, you just report it and don't deliver product. The iPhone only counts for 5% of AT&T total phones on their network, overload my ass. AT&T would love to have more $80 a month customers, even if they use twice as much bandwidth, and dump the $30 a month one's. If AT&T ran out of iPhones, you delay and reorder more from Apple. If the weather is bad you delay or drop ship directly from China.

There is no excuse to cut off sales to a entire region during peak holiday sales, it's money, you get the money and work things out later. Especially a profitable monthly contract of $80 a month!In my opinion Apple wanted as much of the holiday traffic as possible in order to upsell any potential iPhone customer and AT&T couldn't handle volume in NY/NJ, so they made a arrangement. Stop the AT&T online iPhone sales in NY/NJ and that would drive traffic to Apple, either online or in person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpsellingIt's either that or AT&T's web site was hacked/abused and that region turned off.

I bet that will be the final lie in this drama.

noexpectations

said about 14 years ago

The local warehouse was probably out of stock.....had to wait for more to come in. Rumors have it that 4Q was another record quarter for iPhone sales.

solipsism

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by noexpectations

The local warehouse was probably out of stock.....had to wait for more to come in. Rumors have it that 4Q was another record quarter for iPhone sales.

That does seem most likely.

geekdad

said about 14 years ago

I wonder how it took for them to start selling iPhones after Sir Steve called to say WTF?

mactripper

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by noexpectations

The local warehouse was probably out of stock.....had to wait for more to come in. Rumors have it that 4Q was another record quarter for iPhone sales.

Naw, take the sale, drop ship it directly from China. No need to warehouse.