Here's a Sunday night conundrum for you: it's no longer possible to purchase an iPhone from AT&T's online store if you live in New York City, and as of right now, the carrier isn't saying why. Making matters worse, some online customer service reps have apparently gone rogue in providing explanations to curious would-be customers and the occasional inquisitive blogger -- the
Consumerist was told that NYC wasn't "ready for the iPhone," and a few others (including us) were fed a line about credit card fraud causing a ban on online sales. The fraud explanation would actually make sense, considering NYC-area Apple and AT&T stores all have the phone in stock and are happily selling them, but Ma Bell still hasn't put this story to bed with an official explanation -- all we've heard so far is the charmingly generic "We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels." Way to quell a fire with the gasoline of ambiguity, friends. Anyway, if you want an iPhone in New York City
right this instant, you should start walking to the 24-hour Fifth Avenue Apple Store, taking the opportunity to assess your priorities and fundamental sense of purpose along the way. The rest of us will continue spending a reasonable percentage of our income on housing.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted December 28th 2009 12:01AM
Well NYTimes doesn't seems to think it's at&t
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/business/13digi.html?_r=1&ref=technology
And neither does Giz, what?
http://gizmodo.com/5428343/our-2009-12+city-3g-data-mega-test-att-won
Your last little bit is sorta out of date, as most phones in this arena are $199 and all have two-year plans for data, making most of them housing-threatening.
@(Unverified)
That was actually a joke about how god awful the housing prices in New York are.
What's a iPhone?
an*
That's gotta hurt business right after Christmas.
Nilay, I'm confused. "The rest of us will continue spending a reasonable percentage of our income on housing." Does this mean that you do *not* own an iPhone 3GS?? I'm not knocking the iPhone, just wondering if you've had a change of opinion as to whether it's worth the cost or AT&T's crappy network.
@Steve P Jobs Agree Apple got Great products, my Daughter got Ipod Touch and work great for ~ a year , next i will buy for her the outer ear design Airdrives earphone for Ipod.
actually i think of buy an Iphone as i experienced the Ipod touch.
Thanks Apple for Great products.
@Eric Schmidt
Shut up you lying bastard. I kicked your ass off the board of directors. Fake Steve up there can shut it to. Everyone knows I don't use my middle initial.
@Steve P Jobs
Not enough cowbell !
I dispise the crackphone and crackberry's too. Why do they need them? Does it make people more productive? I think not;everyone is checking their phone like a ho on crack!!!
The other explanation is that there was an airport security issue Christmas eve in Detroit, and NYC probably asked AT&T to lock down online sales so they can put faces with phones and catch them being used as "disposable" with stolen cards/cash. Buying an iPhone with 1 day delivery via internet is a bad guys dream. They're well known to program and easy to jailbreak to get at the dock pinouts... and they have 3 different wireless methods. There are plenty of other phones, but iPhone is the easiest to adapt by a wide margin because cracking it is so popular.
"There's an app for that" has a whole new meaning.
Really...!?
A 'reasonable' percentage!?
...and on 'housing' or just a room with a bed, a toilet bowl and a dresser with a toaster oven on top?
why dont you guys just open up a ihateatt.com site..
@(Unverified)
Don't have to. Dropped their shit service like a rock. Churn baby, churn.
@Eric Schmidt
WebOS never had these problems..
Anyone for a game of cards?
I live in New England, in the burbs, and use at&t. Christmas day, 3g data was non-existent. Couldn't even load up the smallest web pages. The iphones are starting to pile up here as well. I'm thinking it's time to jump ship. Thank god for unlocked phones.
Where is Luke Wilson with the explanation!?
Luke we await your response!
@SteveJobsCEO
Shut up
Love it! Maybe AT&T is finally telling all you whiners to shut up! At least on their network.
At&t can go suck balls, I got to play with the Droid and their web browser and services are faster, I have to keep my samsung jack on EDGE to get decent service and data at work and at home mind you those are the two main places I am at most of the time. That Luke Wilson is fu*kery especially with the loading of his image is complete bullshit. And ever since I updated my Jack to 6.5 with that new IE, its been worse at doing everything (Sorry WinMo, love you and had a good run but your breaking my heart). I'm going to use my Pantech Duo, kill data and text for a while, sell the Jack on eBay, bite the ETF, and get a Droid.
One plus side I will give AT&T is when I used to tether my phone to my laptop when I had full 3g signal and share the connection to get on xBox live, it worked like a charm. Hours of Gears of War 2 and GTA4 with no lag.
"Way to quell a fire with the gasoline of ambiguity, friends." Genius.
Although, I do hate AT&T... I was able to easily go through an order for an iPhone in Brooklyn, NY.
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2879/attc.png
Maybe someone had a mistake ordering an iPhone and blew it way out of proportion
@puker33
Thanks for the reality check.
Phone is back on sale from ATT's site.
Report from the NY times dated 12.12.09:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/business/13digi.html?_r=3
no bandwidth left in NYC for iPhones after any new sales already racked up for Christmas. why else?