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In an email to prospective iPhone customers, Apple explained that 'To set up your iPhone, you'll need an account with Apple's iTunes Store. ... If you don't have an account, you should set one up to save time later.'

While this should not prove too much of a problem, it does conjure images of people walking into an AT&T store and having to create an Apple account there and then so that their new iPhone can be activated. Customers trying to conceal keyboards as they enter a password could be a common site.

Business Week believes that this could cause problems.

John

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Forrt noted on its Utility Belt blog that 'the iTunes requirement adds another level of difficulty to the purchase of a phone that has a learning curve as it is'.

'In my experience, the employees in carrier stores have enough trouble signing people up for basic phones, much less revolutionary products with brand new interfaces,' he wrote.

Of course Apple and AT&T could simply install discrete registration terminals to automate the process. The very fact that Apple insists on an iTunes account suggests that it has considered and if necessary dealt with any potential hiccoughs.

And on the long run, it can only benefit from establishing a direct relationship with iPhone users, even if they choose not to use their iTunes account to buy music and video.

'It would be bad if AT&T were the only company that had a continuing billing relationship with the customer - Apple needs to have some ownership as well,' Business Week notes.