iPhones available at Best Buy… without contract?
by Chiyin on Sep 7th, 2008 @ 10:43 amWe all knew the phones were coming to a Best Buy near you and we also knew that eventually you could get it without contract. But does anyone know when they will start selling without a contract? I just saw this in today’s weekly ad
Now if you look at the small print it says “Reg. Price $599.99″ for the 8GB and “Reg. Price $699.99″ for the 16GB. And in the fine print it goes on to say that the $199.99 and $299.99 prices are after instant saving with a 2 year contract. But there’s nothing that says you require a contract to buy the phone.
So are they now available without a contract?
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I joined a discussion on best buy and iPhones on macrumors and it seems like there is 3 different set of prices for the iPhones.
1) Contract price new customer / upgrade eligible customer: $199 / $299
2) Replacement phone / non upgrade eligible customer: $399 / $499
3) No commitment phone: $599 / $699
I wonder in the case of number 2 if you break a replacement phone if you still get that price for a third one or if you then have to go to the #3 price.
so they are selling them without a contract? I went to a Best Buy today and the guy at the iPhone line told me that a contract is required… but you never know with people working in retail…
This was the first public display of “regular” price which has been forecast to be the $599 / $699, but there has yet to be anything available for no contract at that price. So I’m thinking since the Best Buy Guy told you that you have to get a contract, this might just be a Best Buy advertising gimmick to be like look how much you are saving to trick to the suckers that don’t know what’s going on.
yeah I think it’s just a gimmick… since you can’t really buy the phone at that price… although, I saw something interesting when I was at there… when you walk in you could “reserve” a phone and then wait in line to go through the activation process or you could schedule an appointment to come in later so you don’t have to wait in line… I think that’s a good idea… but knowing best buy they’ll somehow mess up and people with appointments will end up waiting longer
There not selling it unlocked or without a contract…that $599/$699 price is like a MSRP that no one will pay because AT&T won’t let them be sold unlocked in the US!
Here in the UK at 14:19 the firmware 2.1 has JUST been released. I’m downloadind as we speak
If you read the fine print in the ad it clearly states, ‘In store activation required’.
Sorry