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Expect a longer wait in line for the iPhone

By Steve Pounds | Thursday, July 10, 2008, 05:47 PM

More iPhone food for thought.

If you’re planning to line up for the 8 a.m. launch tomorrow of the 3G iPhone, don’t expect a simply in-and-out procedure.

To keep people from activating the phone on their own (remember, the young hacker who beat the technology in the week or so after the initial iPhone launch last year), the stores are requiring activation in the store. Last year, you took them home and activated them through iTunes.

So if you have to fill out paperwork at the Apple Store before a store clerk activates your new phone, it certainly will take significantly longer. Last year, one iPhone customer left the store every 20 seconds, according Fortune.com.

Apple and AT&T are even telling customers to go in the day before and fill out paperwork so they can quickly activate their phone on Friday.

And on another front, the tip that only one iPhone will be sold to each customer isn’t entirely true. We’ve heard that customers ordering AT&T’s family plan will be allowed to purchase more than one device.

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Comments

By Judy

July 11, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

If you decide that you must absolutely stand in line to get a phone, do your research in advance (like today, for instance) so that you know more or less what you want on your phone.

It will be the chronic, non-decisive “sample abusers” (fellow Curb/Enthusiasm fans know what I am referring to) that will inevitably hold up the lines.

By Ron

July 11, 2008 8:32 AM | Link to this

I passed by the AT&T store in Round Rock near Home Depot on I-35 this morning on my way to work… and I could not believe my eyes. People wrapped all the way around the building, almost into the Home Depot parking lot. Crazy…

I’ll wait a few days for mine, thanks anyway. :)

By Joseph

July 11, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this

I went by the store for a friend. As I walked by I kept hearing associates ask people in line “do you have any questions?” When I got in line I had plenty. I asked If I am buying this for my friend do I have to activate here? The gentleman said no but you will pay more. Then I asked how much more and he said “don’t know”. Then another customer asked do you know how many people will be able to get one and the best they came up with, drum roll please. “We’ll see what happens”. I have been an Apple supporter for years now but it has to be better then that. Oh well I have my first gen phone and I am happy!

Joseph

By Scott

July 11, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this

I’d go with Sprint’s Instinct … faster, better coverage, more functionality and cheaper. Sprint’s customer service has significantly improved as well. Here are the facts: Instinct price is $129 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. This also includes an additional $70 instant credit through the life of the device. (MSRP is $449.) Sprint offers significantly higher value when you combine Simply EverythingSM and Instinct.
Pricing on the device is $70 less than AT&T’s announced pricing on the 3G iPhone. Instinct offers several features that 3G iPhone does not including live TV, Live Search, stereo Bluetooth and a camcorder. Instinct and 3G iPhone offer several comparable features including GPS, threaded messaging and visual voicemail. Current service pricing on Instinct is far superior to 3G iPhone*, particularly for the heavy data user which is the target for both devices. Simply Everything offers unlimited voice and data for $99 vs. AT&T’s unlimited voice and data for $129. Sprint provides unlimited messaging (text / picture mail) vs. 200 messages from AT&T (their text is not in unlimited data). Certain business and consumer email included from Sprint vs. $15 extra charge for business email from AT&T * Pricing comparisons are based upon current, publicly-available AT&T rate plans and publicly announced prices for the 3G iPhone. A Sprint customer who buys the Instinct with the Simply Everything plan saves nearly $800 over the two-year life of their contract compared to an AT&T customer with an i-Phone.
Sprint has 5X more high-speed mobile broadband coverage based on square miles than the AT&T 3G network. AT&T has less bars in less places — and no bars in more places, when it comes to mobile broadband coverage. Sprint gives customers what they want — data. Now.

By paul a'barge

July 11, 2008 9:20 AM | Link to this

Scott said: I’d go with Sprint’s Instinct

SPAM

By Tom F

July 11, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Scott, since you added what appears to be part of a disclaimer at the end I have to assume that your work for Sprint.

By southside_observer

July 11, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this

And for those of you interested in real news, construction has begun on a Jackie Chan museum in Shanghai, and GSD&M hopes to make the BMW more attractive to young buyers.

By Scott

July 11, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

Tom - Facts are facts. Check them out for yourself (don’t you hate it when a local newspaper includes a “news” article that is really nothing more that a (masked) advertisement? Hmmmmm - wonder who paid what for this “news” article to appear on the front page of Austin American Statesman’s on-line newspaer.

By ihater

July 11, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

How is this newsworthy. between worthless articles like this one and an obsession with longhorn coverage this paper is slowly but surely going down the tubes. Hey AAS staff there are some Austiites who enjoy news.. local news. Not cheerleader articles and apple commercials. ie Where is a follow up story on the APD gun left in park.

By B

July 11, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this

Thanks for the commercial, Scott! Either you’re an employee or a fanboy with wayyyy too much time on his hands.

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