No more online activation for new iPhones

That's the word from AT&T, and it'll mean longer waits—and way more hassle—come July 11, the day the iPhone 3G goes on sale. Boo!!!

One of the coolest features about the original iPhone was that you could activate it at home, over iTunes, in just a few easy steps. The beauty of the process was that you could simply grab an iPhone off the shelf at an Apple Store, pay the cashier, and go—no waiting around for carrier reps to sign you up for a new contract.

Well, bad news, courtesy of Gizmodo: Apparently, online activation is no more. If you want an iPhone 3G, you'll have to get it activated when you buy it, a process that will take about 10 minutes or so—if you're lucky.

That means the wait for a new iPhone on launch day will be nightmarish. Just think ... if you get in line on July 11 and there's a hundred people in front of you, with five cash registers running at full speed, that's more than a three-hour wait—and that's assuming the activation process (including mandatory credit checks!) goes smoothly for everyone.

Oh, and then there's this: No online purchases for the iPhone 3G during the initial launch days.

OK, so why the change? Didn't everyone applaud online iPhone activations last time around?

Well, AT&T doesn't seem to think so. The carrier is claiming (according to Ars Technica) that the decision is "based on feedback" from subscribers, who said they "wanted to complete purchase and activation in one step so they could walk out of the AT&T store with their iPhone up and running."

Yeah, right. Here's the real reason, I'm guessing: The new and cheaper price tags.

See, the reason the new iPhones are so cheap (just $199 and up, compared to the original launch-day prices of $499 and up) is that AT&T is subsidizing about $200 of the price.

In exchange, AT&T gets more say on how iPhones are sold—and by forcing you to activate your iPhone at the time of purchase, the carrier can clamp down on the "gray market" of unlocked iPhones without service plans.

Well, it's a lame deal any way you slice it—and it means a long wait for those of us looking to buy new iPhones on July 11.

My advice: Get thee to an Apple Store—not an AT&T store—on the big day. Last June, I tried buying my first iPhone at an AT&T store (with only about 60 people in front of me) for hours before being told that their stock had run out. Apple Stores will probably get more iPhones, and they tend to have more cash registers, too.

And consider bringing a lawn chair, too. 

Related:
iPhone 3G Pricing and Activation Details: $30 Unlimited Data, Activated In Store Only [Gizmodo]
Apple and AT&T drop online sales, iTunes activation [Ars Technica]