Apple Tightens Down On iPhone Purchases

Wow, just when you thought the whole iPhone debacle couldn’t get any stranger, it has. The “must have” product of 2007 has quickly turned into a war between consumers and providers, with those purchasing units wanting more flexibility and control over their phone – after all, they bought it. Apple, on the other hand, wants to maintain its exclusivity deal with AT&T and keep control over their product. We’ve gone from praise over the iPhone’s features to complaints over its uselessness after being “bricked” by the company for being hacked. So what’s next?

It appears Apple is not only trying to keep control over its product, but now the company is tracking exactly who is purchasing the iPhones. According to an Apple Store employee, the company won’t let consumers pay cash for an iPhone anymore. Only credit cards and debit cards are permitted for purchase of an iPhone, specifically so the company can keep tabs on who buys the phone.

This follows on the heels of last week’s announcement by the Associated Press that Apple was limiting the purchase of iPhones to no more than two per customer, although the company’s employees say that rule was always in effect. However, by tracking purchases through credit cards and debit carts, the company can enforce that rule a bit more. They can see who is buying the phones, and then where those phones are going from there – whether it be on to the AT&T network or hacked and sold for a profit.

According to the company, the amount of hacked phones has neared the quarter of a million mark – almost one out of every six phones sold has been hacked and put on a network other than AT&T.

I really think this is eventually going to make one beautiful case about consumer’s rights for their own purchase. Apple’s attempt at control over purchases and what can be done with those purchases is nearing an imperialistic level, and something tells me that, in this consumer-driven society, that’s going to cost the company in the long run. In the meantime, hackers are going to have to avoid the company’s stormtroopers and find a way around the two per customer limit, or start playing by Apple’s rules until someone declares that Apple has lost its mind.