Your iPhone: dead in the water without an iTunes account?
As if the single mobile operator lock in wasn't bad enough for some, the latest email to arrive in the mailboxes of iPhone hopefuls now stipulates that an iTunes account is required for the iPhone to function.
The full text reads:
iTunes Account To set up your iPhone, you'll need an account with Apple's iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don't have an account, you should set one up now to save time later. To set up an account, launch iTunes, select the iTunes Store, and click the Sign In button in the uppoer right corner of iTunes. Sign in and you're ready to go.
The implication is that at least some part of the initialisation or use of the iPhone is dependent upon having the iTunes account. If you don't have one, you don't get to use the iPhone.
It may not be quite so severe, but because details from both AT&T and Apple are so sketchy at present, and won't be known until launch day, it's hard to know for certain if the iTunes account is an absolute necessity.
Unsurprisingly, Apple are quite happy to talk up this 'feature', encouraging non-account holders to sign up now.
Is this FUD, or a genuine prerequisite?
It could be that certain features won't work as expected if a valid iTunes account isn't set up. It would be harsh if the phone wouldn't function at all without the account.
Very few, if any, people getting an iPhone would be unable to sign up for the iTunes account. It requires either a credit card or bank account, and you need one or the other to pay for your AT&T contract (unless a pay as you go option is forthcoming).
Many may feel aggrieved that they have to hand over personal financial information to Apple, even if they have no intention of purchasing music or video from the iTunes Store.
After all, the core functionality of iTunes should continue to work as with iPods - synchronising a music collection via a PC or Mac.
Of course, it gives Apple an exclusive path to the customer, unhindered by AT&T, and it makes perfect sense to anyone who actually wants to use the iTunes Store.
I suppose one more company with your credit card or bank account number on record won't hurt, will it?
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