No More Cash For iPhones
10.29.07 - 02:12pm
Money, money, money - as long as you use your credit or debit card, is now the policy at Apple’s stores if one is to purchase an iPhone.
Why? So that Apple can track who buys the phones and make sure that they are properly linked up with AT&T. (Somewhere, I see a whole new bevy of lawsuits forming from this new policy. - Infringement on rights… etc.etc. etc.)
Also if your father was planning on buying iPhones for you, your brother and your sister, one of you is out of luck. Along with the no cash policy there are only two phones per customer. So “Dad, sorry, no matter where you go, no matter what state you go to, you will be tracked. So only two iPhones. Danny will have to go without.”
Gift cards are also not usable so once again, “Sorry Dad - no buying gift cards for everyone. Danny will still have to go without.”
Apple has made the two iPhone limit, no cash, no gift card policy to try to stem the tide of unlocked iPhones on the market. Over 250,000 are out there currently, costing Apple millions. Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffrey analyst says he believes Apple receives $18 per iPhone every month from AT&T. Thus after the reported quarterly earnings Apple would have lost $4.5 million from those 250,000 unlocked iPhones. (Sorry Dad, unless you have a few mill. no amount of whining is going to get Danny an iPhone. Unless he buys it himself. Can you have a debit card at 14?)
“Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. “We’re requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.”
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