iPhone's $100 Apple Store Credit program goes live

Call 'em suckers or Apple faithful, early adopters or cutting edge, any way you slice it those who shelled out for a full-priced iPhone before August 22 can now enter their digits and get a $100 Apple Store Credit for use online or at an Apple Retail Store, just like Jobs promised. The process couldn't be easier, and you don't need a receipt, just enter your phone number and serial number, the latter which can be found on the back of your iPhone, and Apple will SMS you an access code. Once you enter that you're home free, and can finally go on that iPod accessory shopping spree you've always dreamed of -- or if you're a true fanboy, put the credit towards an iPod touch just to see what all this "iPhone without the phone" fuss is about.

Update: A couple of interesting things to note about the program so far. First off, and most disappointingly, the program doesn't work with iPhones that haven't been activated on AT&T. Second, and slightly more far-fetched, is that we're hearing reports of people scoring the credit with their post price-drop iPhones. It seems like any way you slice it it's worth tossing your digits into the thing and see what comes out, before Apple tightens things up, and we'll keep an eye out for recourse for those who haven't activated their phones with AT&T like good little consumers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[blackraven @ Sep 14th 2007 11:46AM]

http://digg.com/apple/Apple_iPhone_Credit_Only_For_AT_T_Customers It's NOT just like Jobs promised...he promised a rebate for "every iPhone customer" but in reality it is only for AT&T customers!

[I.E @ Sep 14th 2007 11:50AM]

what happens to the folks thatar enot interested in any other apple products?

[Chicksta @ Sep 14th 2007 12:12PM]

They can donate their rebates to me! I have an associate who's trying to start up a nonprofit and get some mac equipment; it'd be a great way for her to get it started :)

[insertAlias @ Sep 14th 2007 12:15PM]

They are just screwed...
Why is everybody complaining about this rebate? When your computer gets devalued does the computer company give you a rebate? How about your car? Does the dealership give you a gift card? Apple didn't have to give anybody anything, so they really aren't screwing you by only giving you store credit...they are doing you a favor. If you don't want another apple product, give your rebate to somebody that does.

[JT @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

The apple store also sells non-apple manufactured products

[ScottW @ Sep 14th 2007 11:56AM]

Read the FAQ:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/storecredit/faq.html

Looks like they're barring use of the credit for iTunes purchases. You can't use it in the iTunes store, only the brick-and-mortar stores, AND it says you can't use it in said retail stores to purchase iTunes cards.

And simultaneously, hundreds of thousands of iPhone customers are having trouble sitting down without shooting pains...

[Neal Campbell @ Sep 14th 2007 12:08PM]

My wife and I both bought iPhones on June 29th. When we enter our info we get the following error message:

You may not be eligible.

We're sorry, but we can't locate a record of your iPhone. It could be that you've entered the requested information incorrectly. If so, please try entering it again. If the information is correct, there are several reasons why you could have recieved this message: 1. Your iPhone was purchased at the new, reduced price and is not eligible for a $100 Apple Store credit. 2. You have not activated your iPhone. You must activate your iPhone before we can process your credit. 3. You recently activated your iPhone. It may take up to 24 hours after you register your iPhone before we can process your request. After activating your phone and receiving your activation confirmation, please return to this site to receive your Apple Store credit. For questions, please email Apple at [e-mail]. Be sure to include your name, iPhone serial number, the place of purchase (AT&T, Apple Retail Store, or Apple Online Store), the date of purchase and a copy of this entire message. Please see the terms and conditions for more details about eligibility.

We've never hacked our iPhones or anything, so I'm not sure what's up. We emailed Apple.

[Chicksta @ Sep 14th 2007 12:14PM]

I'm bummed that they can only spell 'receive(d)' correctly 50% of the time...

[Mike K @ Sep 14th 2007 2:07PM]

Did you enter a '1' as the second character of your serial #? I made that mistake, and the correct character ended up being 'T' instead!! Try that!

[John M @ Sep 14th 2007 2:13PM]

That sucks man....It worked fine for me any my wifey...no wi just got to figure out what to get...and nothing seems exciting...

[Stacy @ Sep 14th 2007 6:51PM]

I also received the same error & emailed Apple. I have a hack-free phone and obviously haven't returned it. I suspect my iPhone was an unopened return, and the Apple database is either looking at the original purchase date (instead of mine) or somewhere along the line...didn't get the S/N updated with my phone number.

But of course, these are all just guesses...and hopefully not many people will experience this.

[stanley rivera @ Sep 14th 2007 12:10PM]

just order a jawbone for $28

[pawnbroker @ Sep 14th 2007 12:13PM]

A couple of thoughts.
1) For those of you who think we should have waited for the ipod touch, the iphone has many more features including email and the camera. Therefore, I bought a used iphone that was perviously activated on att and was then canceled. I can now use it via WiFi and it works great as an ipod touch but has email and the camera etc.

2) How can those that cancelled their att service get the rebate?

3) If they are really not going to let you use your "apple money" rebate for itunes, they are making a big mistake. I'm actually an Apple "fanboy" but this is becoming a real nightmare for Apple. It's bad enough publicity that you only get "apple money" back, but now they are going to limit you on what Apple products you can buy? Dumb.

[HeavenlySword @ Sep 14th 2007 12:31PM]

I'm so freakin upset!
I'm not eligible because I returned mine a while ago to get a new one.
Here's the thing though, it wasn't even my fault. It wasn't even like I dropped it or something. The battery couldn't be charged and died!

I read through their terms and it says
"Not Eligible for Store Credit
...
(2) iPhones that have been returned to either AT&T or Apple."

What are they thinking. They do this just to save $100?
I'm so gonna call them!

[ScottW @ Sep 14th 2007 1:21PM]

So take your phone and receipt(s) to where you bought it, explain the situation. Just because an automated system doesn't 'get it' doesn't mean a fellow meat puppet won't. :)

[HeavenlySword @ Sep 14th 2007 1:34PM]

Yea, I'm working on it. They gave me my first iPhone's serial but still gives me the same message.
They are putting me on hold now.

[Jordan @ Sep 14th 2007 12:38PM]

I got screwed since I bought all of my relatives their iphones on the release date as a gift - they are going to get the $100 for each phone and not me... this is so unfair.

[CRH @ Sep 14th 2007 12:39PM]

Interesting to note I can't fill out the form on my iPhone. It will only give me a numeric keypad to input my serial #. Not cool Apple, not cool.

[Frank @ Sep 14th 2007 12:41PM]

I filled mine out on the iphone and it worked fine.

[Peppaz @ Sep 14th 2007 12:41PM]

Im on Tmobile with my iPhone, should I ask for a rebate anyway? AT&T doesn't even know I have an iPhone lol

[Andrew @ Sep 14th 2007 10:01PM]

put your att sim card into an att phone to receive the sms message...that is, if ur att sim card is still active

[Ron @ Sep 14th 2007 12:43PM]

Nothing will ever make some people happy. Some people will bitch no matter what.

How about being thankful and grateful for a life that is good.

[secretvampire @ Sep 14th 2007 3:00PM]

Welcome to the Internet, friend! :-)

[Jason @ Sep 14th 2007 12:56PM]

I just tried to enter my info and it says their records show my iPhone has been returned, so I'm not eligible. Strange since my iPhone is sitting right beside me and is the same one I bought back in early July. I've emailed them and hopefully they will fix this, I need the $100 so I can buy a new iPod that I don't need.

[Dave @ Sep 14th 2007 12:59PM]

A week after I bought my G5 and 23" monitor, new models came out and I got $1000 back from Apple.
Can someone please tell me of another company that will do that.

[Ahmed @ Sep 14th 2007 1:11PM]

Steve Jobs is a biggest liar in the wireless industry.

He said 'iPhone credit for everyone', didnt say 'iPhone credit for only AT&T customers'

[Richard A. @ Sep 14th 2007 1:34PM]

You fool. Apple has played the clever card, locking out all those who hacked up their iPhones and not properly activated them through AT&T. You play with fire, you're gonna get burned.

Thus all iPhones properly activated with AT&T (which EVERYONE should have) means "credit for everyone." You hacked the phone, you circumvented the system, it's your loss.

[insertAlias @ Sep 14th 2007 1:39PM]

You people are killing me...
In Apple's opinion, all iPhone customers were ATT customers. The phone wans't intended to work without it. If you hack your phone and go with another provider or none at all, you cannot expect apple to go out of their way and work harder to make sure that all the people that screwed their partner gets a rebate.

[ScotteusMaximus @ Sep 14th 2007 1:25PM]

the part about having to be properly activated through AT&T is no joke. i'm an AT&T legacy blue customer, so i'm using an unlocked iPhone with my non-iPhone AT&T plan. no text message =(

[XM RULES @ Sep 14th 2007 1:44PM]

The rebate worked like a charm...nice addition to the Amex $200 credit I rec'd as well (AMEX stopped doing this as soon as Apple announced the rebate -- good thing I acted quickly!).

[Vaughn Cordero @ Sep 14th 2007 2:46PM]

Im a cingular customer using my original non-iPhone SIM; never activated the offic ial way. I got my text message (and Im 'outside the US' to boot)

[bubba2274 @ Sep 14th 2007 1:45PM]

I was able to score the $100 credit and I purchased my iphone on 9/6.

Thanks Apple for the $299 8gb iPhone

[steven maroulis @ Sep 14th 2007 1:56PM]

same here :) 8GB $299 you can't beat that

[Neeko @ Sep 14th 2007 2:25PM]

Great so now you can RESPEND your hard earned $$ on EVEN HIGHER margined products fromm the APPLE STORE..


BRILLIANT JOBS BRILLIANT..

Make all the lemmings feel special and retake their $$.

[PatrickIs2Smart @ Sep 14th 2007 2:26PM]

Anybody else notice the additional options displayed in the menus of the "Where to Find Your Serial Number" section? There's a Home Button option, International option, and then the version it says is "1.1.1 (3813)". I'm pretty sure everyone is running 1.0.2 if they've updated. So I wonder if that's the upcoming update... ::ponders::

[offline @ Sep 14th 2007 3:00PM]

Not only does it say 1.1.1 but on the picture of the settings page there is a new item called "Home Button"

[PatrickIs2Smart @ Sep 14th 2007 3:04PM]

Yeah, and the modem firmware appears to be updated as well. Possibly a killer to the "unlocked" iPhones floating around?

[ottovds @ Sep 14th 2007 2:41PM]

haha
this way they can see what suckers have unlocked there iphone.
No AT&T number= unlocked = no cashback

[Roger Rodrigues @ Sep 14th 2007 2:54PM]

Bought the phone from AT&T on June 29th and activated with AT&T on the same day. Entered the info as requested, NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REFUND!!!

[humberto @ Sep 14th 2007 3:05PM]

I didnt activate with AT&T, got a prepaid AT&T card and was able to get my 100 USD.

[Rick @ Sep 14th 2007 3:12PM]

Just tried to enter my credit number to pay for my shopping cart full of iPhone accessories (and the extended AppleCare plan) and the number won't work. Called the customer support line and was told that they're getting a ton of calls saying the same thing. So ... they're working on a fix as of this posting and I was told to give it "2 or 3 hours" and try again. And the hits just keep on comin!

[insertAlias @ Sep 14th 2007 3:25PM]

I desparately need an SLR

[insertAlias @ Sep 14th 2007 3:26PM]

oops posted in the wrong page, sorry guys

[Maztec @ Sep 14th 2007 3:30PM]

Awesome, I'm screwed. Apparently I purchased a phone that had been returned. They can't verify that I actually ahve the phone and haven't received the return price (aka, you sure you didn't steal it?) So I'm out..

Time to waste an hour arguing and push that up to a full $200 refund :\ (bet I get it ;)

[Justin @ Sep 14th 2007 3:30PM]

Anyone stop to think that this is a great way for apple to find out who and how many people bought their phones and hacked them? EVERYONE has incentive to try, so Apple will instantly be able to collect the data on how many of their sold phones are hacked. Nice little side affect of the rebate program.

[Jason @ Sep 14th 2007 3:32PM]

I still haven't received any SMS message to begin with...

[John Jung @ Sep 14th 2007 3:38PM]

Can't someone just activate with AT&T, get the rebate & cancel within AT&T's cancel period?

[christy @ Sep 14th 2007 4:18PM]

Hi there,
how does this site work? I do not understand. Is it just more information about different items or are these items for sale? Sorry if I sound silly, but I just was not sure if this was a company selling items and advertising on here.

Thanks
christy

[rob @ Sep 14th 2007 5:07PM]

I purchased my phone within ten days of the price drop and received a $100 refund. Today I put my info into the credit program website and received the $100 credit too!

Yay!

[samsonsu.mobile @ Sep 14th 2007 6:15PM]

For un-activated users: as some of the commenters have already mentioned, as long as you have 1 AT&T phone number associated with an activated iPhone, you can use this number to get credit for other un-activated iPhones. I've got $100 for my activated iPhone, and another 2x$100 for my friends' unactivated ones. I got the credit number, PIN, and barcode. At least they all look valid (numbers on each credit are different).

It's easy. Just input your activated iPhone number and the SN for any other iPhone you want to get credit for. Wait for the SMS with access code on that activated iPhone, and proceed. There was a moment I thought this wouldn't work because the SMS didn't arrive after 5 minutes. Later it turned out to be some AT&T text message delay. So be patient.

However, if you input a phone number that doesn't belong to an iPhone (i.e., the number of your Nokia phone), you'll receive an error page that clearly says "No. Must be activated".

So it looks like apple.com only checks if the number belongs to an iPhone, but doesn't require the number to match the SN. Don't know if they intended to do so or it's just an overlook. Maybe it's their way to say thanks to those who bought multiple iPhones, even if only 1 of them is activated. (Or to those who will soon run a small business on eBay to help people get credit for their unactivated iphones, and charge commission)

Just my personal experience. Can't guarantee anything, of course.