What do I need to buy an iPhone

[trevo]

Hello... I'm kind of happy. A friend of a friend is buying me an iPhone in Utah. I'm going to wait to see what this UK press release but I don't think Australia is getting them for a while.

Can anyone walk into an Apple store or AT&T and simply buy one over the counter, like you don't actually do anything to connect the phone at the shop... That's all done via iTunes, correct?

Is there any difference between buying them at an Apple store against buying them at an AT&T store?

Can I buy everything on Apple's online store with an Australian credit card as long as it goes to an American address, I haven't tried but I'm guessing everything has to be American?

Lastly, because I don't know much about shipping from your end. What kind of shipping should my friend be asking for?

Thanks a bunch!

[cosus]

Unless you get a fabulous, and expensive, international plan, I doubt it will do you any use to even have the iphone. There are much better paper weights out there. I personally use a hockey puck.

[trevo]

Erm... I'm sure I'll get loads of use out of the iPhone with fabulous free software that I don't think I can discuss here....

Anyway, i'm practically paying for a device which has more functionality than the iPod Touch (which i was originally going to buy) for about the same price.

[Bryson]

It's probably worth getting an official policy decision about whether we can discuss that sort of thing....

[trevo]

Yeah, I tried my best not to mention anything like that in my post.

For all you know I'm using AT&T and roaming in Australia ;)


Anyway. It's a good thing this post hasn't got anything to do with that side of things. I'm just wondering what the process is when going to buy one.

[MCQ]

Can anyone walk into an Apple store or AT&T and simply buy one over the counter, like you don't actually do anything to connect the phone at the shop... That's all done via iTunes, correct?

Is there any difference between buying them at an Apple store against buying them at an AT&T store?


Correct - you just walk in and buy one. I think the AT&T store might do a credit check on the purchaser, but there still isn't any activation done in the store.


Can I buy everything on Apple's online store with an Australian credit card as long as it goes to an American address, I haven't tried but I'm guessing everything has to be American?


Don't know.


Lastly, because I don't know much about shipping from your end. What kind of shipping should my friend be asking for?


International? Your friend should be able to use USPS, UPS, or Fedex to ship it.

[MAJB]

I doubt very much that an Australian credit card would clear on the US online store but don't quote me on that.

[ghoti]

I wouldn't rule that out. I've used Austrian credit cards (so almost the same thing ;) with American online stores, but I'm not sure if I ever tried that with Apple. Some require you to provide additional proofs that it's really your card, like a scan of the card, etc.

But since you're shipping it to an American address, it might be easier to just send the money to your buddy via PayPal or something and then not run into problems that way.

Shipping is tricky though because of customs and taxes. You should perhaps ask the appropriate authorities what to expect there, otherwise you might be in for an expensive surprise.