Apple Once Again Selling Contract-Free iPhones in U.S. Without Proof of AT&T Service Required
Gizmodo shares an internal Apple document revealing that the company's U.S. retail stores will now sell unsubsidized iPhone 3G and 3GS models without requiring proof of an existing AT&T service plan.
Effectively immediately, customers purchasing iPhone as device only at full price are no longer required to have an AT&T account or provide a form of ID. Device only full price iPhone sales are limited to one per person per day.
The contract-free iPhones, which reportedly will be sold locked to AT&T's network but can easily be unlocked for use on other GSM networks, are being offered at $499 (8 GB iPhone 3G), $599 (16 GB iPhone 3GS), and $699 (32 GB iPhone 3GS). Such unsubsidized, "device only" iPhone sales have been available for some time, but until this change customers were required to provide evidence of existing AT&T service.
Apple and AT&T offered similar deals for contract-free iPhones in the U.S. around this time last year as Apple presumably sought to unload excess inventory ahead of a refresh later in the year.
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