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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Expect a longer wait in line for the iPhone
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.
