Apple refusing cash for iPhones

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 29 Oct 2007 at 14:27

Those hoping to purchase an iPhone on 9 November will need to have a bank card handy, after Apple announced new measures to prevent the phones being resold over Christmas.

The handsets, which will be available online, and through Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores, will be limited to two per customer and only purchasable using a credit or debit card, allowing the company to track payments.

Apple says the new policy is aimed at preventing individuals buying extra handsets to resell, and discouraging those who purchase second and third iPhones in order to unlock them for use on other networks aside from O2.

The move will also apply to Apple's partners, O2 and Carphone Warehouse, with a spokesperson for O2 saying that "iPhone sales were always going to be done on a credit card basis. That was our plan from the beginning."

Apple claims that nearly a quarter of a million iPhones, out of the 1.4 million sold in the US since its June launch, were bought with the express purpose of being unlocked, which could account for its new-found wariness. When the iPhone was launched in the US, customers were allowed to purchase up to five of the handsets.

Despite the new limits Apple still hopes to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

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