Apple iPhone shoppers can now start buying process at home

[AppleInsider]

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.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[BlackSummerNight]

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.

[Tokolosh]

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?

[SpamSandwich]

I'll have to see the G1 in person before I decide.

[Zandros]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

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

[bloggerblog]

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.

[bloggerblog]

BTW the G1 looks and feels cheap.

[BlackSummerNight]

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.

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

I'll have to see the G1 in person before I decide.

[Bobo Decosta]

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.

[BlackSummerNight]

Looks pretty awesome to me, but to each their own.

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

BTW the G1 looks and feels cheap.

[BlackSummerNight]

..TMO is capping Data at 1G? WTF!

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by Bobo Decosta

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.

People in the US would've stood in line on their hands for such a deal!! Any provider?? WOW! Anything but AT&T

But you're right, it doesn't make any sense, they should've been able to ship it to you.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

..TMO is capping Data at 1G? WTF!

They aren't caping data, they are throttling data to 50Kbps at 1GB of transfer in a month. I think that is not too unreasonable.

[BlackSummerNight]

That's not acceptable, I'd hate to see how streetview runs at 50kbps. That's not even Edge speeds. Hell I think GPRS is faster.

Originally Posted by solipsism

They aren't caping data, they are throttling data to 50Kbps at 1GB of transfer in a month. I think that is not too unreasonable.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

..TMO is capping Data at 1G? WTF!

Checkout the last two pics the screen does not close right. Also the iPhone has a solid frame and a tempered glass surface, the G1 uses plastic. No headphone jack, no multi touch, and yes only 1GB per month.

[eldernorm]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

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.

... those other phones yet. I just left the Best Buy and thought I would physically touch these other phones that sound and look good on the computer.

My main impression was: small, cheap, plastic copies. Now, if you are a teenager, small lightweight, cheap, and who cares what its made of, phones may just fit right in. Smart or not, who cares, their in and hip and pink or what ever. LOL :-)

Just a thought.
en

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

That's not acceptable, I'd hate to see how streetview runs at 50kbps. That's not even Edge speeds. Hell I think GPRS is faster.

That is ONLY after 1GB of data usage. I am halfway through my AT&T plan for the month and I've only used 84MB of data. I consider myself an excessive user of the internet-connecting apps and mobile Safari. I would have had to have used over 6x the data at this point to even approach getting throttled if AT&T had that setup.

[BlackSummerNight]

I'm a WM user , and I've had 6G of useage this month.

Originally Posted by solipsism

That is ONLY after 1GB of data usage. I am halfway through my AT&T plan for the month and I've only used 84MB of data. I consider myself an excessive user of the internet-connecting apps and mobile Safari. I would have had to have used over 6x the data at this point to even approach getting throttled if AT&T had that setup.

But maybe that's why they so no tethering.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight

But maybe that's why they so no tethering.

If you are tethering, sure. Which is why they have to throttle. At least with the Apple policed App Store the carriers can be fairly assured that apps that will saturate their bandwidth can be blocked. That is one think that stinks about the US carriers, and some cable internet providers have started putting hard caps on. I think this trend will get more popular, too.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by solipsism

That is ONLY after 1GB of data usage. I am halfway through my AT&T plan for the month and I've only used 84MB of data. I consider myself an excessive user of the internet-connecting apps and mobile Safari. I would have had to have used over 6x the data at this point to even approach getting throttled if AT&T had that setup.

Watch some YouTube, check email attachments such as PDFs and PowerPoints, use Google Maps satellite images, browse the internet, and you may beat 84MB. I'm on my 4th day and I've uploaded 35MB and downloaded 325MB already.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

Watch some YouTube, check email attachments such as PDFs and PowerPoints, use Google Maps satellite images, browse the internet, and you may beat 84MB. I'm on my 4th day and I've uploaded 35MB and downloaded 325MB already.

I'll have to reevaluate how I define an "excessive user".

[BlackSummerNight]

Hey this " start at home" crap isn't working correctly. All they did was set up an appointment at the Apple store. It didn't do squat.


Just tried again, and now I have two appointments for tomorrow.