iPhone distribution set: Apple Store, Apple on-line Store and AT&T Store. Now, what’s an AT&T Store?

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Jun 26, 20071 min

If you haven’t seen an AT&T Store around, they might not have taken down their Cingular sign yet.

There are AT&T stores and AT&T Stores. Most locations are Authorized Dealers rather than company-owned stores. I have a feeling that, at least initially, iPhone will be sold through AT&T company-owned stores.

How can you tell the difference? AT&T’s store locator lists “Apple iPhone” among the store search criteria. However, selecting it brings up zero matches. AT&T provides an overlay for Google Earth that identifies the locations of company-owned stores. As you can see from the attached image, there are a few near me.

I’m disappointed that Apple didn’t authorize my favorite place to buy phones. Jokes about the ‘Shack abound, but they bend over backwards to support wireless customers after the sale. I think that iPhone’s channel may broaden after a few months to include AT&T Authorized dealers.

I have all kinds of questions about the handling of iPhone customer support that I hope to have answered in a briefing with Apple.