iPhone 3G goes on sale for two weeks only at Best Buy Mobile
One of our trusty Best Buy Mobile ninjas just hit us with some good news for all you last-minute holiday shoppers out there. Starting today (December 19) through Saturday January 3, the iPhone 3G will be available from Best Buy Mobile for the lowest price in the country. Granted, those prices are only $10 off the standard retail price but money is money, especially in this day and age. Recession, people! The 8GB model can be yours for $189.99 and the 16GB version rings up at $289.99, both requiring new 2-year contracts of course. To sweeten the deal a bit, Best Buy Mobile will also toss in double reward zone points, amounting to about $10 in reward zone certificates for the 8GB model and $15 for the 16GB. That’s on top of the cash savings of course. Last but not least, your local Best Buy Mobile rep will happily set up your shiny new iPhone 3G with one personal email account for free as part of the deal. So what are you waiting for? Hit the jump for more details.
The trick is finding someone that enjoys cell phones and can impart that on you. All stores have mindless drones that sit behind a desk and tell you what to get. AT&T, Apple, and Best Buy.
I like Best Buy more because they don’t force you to add any features that are not required by the carrier (like data on iphone, which is just about the only carrier-forced feature they have)
When I bought my tilt the AT&T corporate rep told me I had to have data or I couldn’t have the phone (I promptly returned it when Best Buy picked it up)
All a matter of who you get.. and doesn’t Apple charge people $100 for ‘expert help for one year’ ? I’ve never been to an apple store.
To Joe Daddy….
That was the most ignorant statement you could have ever made. Actually it is better in most cases to go to Best Buy Mobile. May be you have not notice, but since they transition over they have alot more training. And since they work with more than one carrier they probaly would know more info than any apple store and some att, its called being impartial. And we can also transfer your contacts from any phone to your iphone.(GSM or CDMA) Ask apple to do that for you.
@ Paul
True the storm is still buggy. But the iphone is far from a real smart phone. Cant edit attachments and no real push email. Nothing beats a Blackberry in email and pda fuctionality in one package. In case you dont remember you could not make a call on the iphone with out it dropping a call at the beginning. Thats not a bug that was a virus. And yes i have a iphone.
Thanks for the info Chris. Much appreciated.
@ downsouth821:
Wrong iPhone has push email and you can edit attachments I do it all the time. iPhone has WiFi, unlocked GPS, and iPod almost 13,000 apps and you can use voice and data at the same time, join local networks, play multiplayer games, and the iPhone UI and graphics make the BB Storm look like the toy it is. BB Storm is nothing more than a decent phone with email with a terrible keyboard! For a person who says he has an iPhone funny how you have no idea of the capabilities! I own an iPhone and a BB!
Really? It has Push/Pull Exchange support? I didn’t know that. The only other thing I was concerned about was the GPS. I sure like my iGo, but don’t think anything is out there like that for the iPhone.
Paul I see you do not know how a real exchange server works.how you going to say the Iphone has true GPS. Show me voice active turn by turn directions. Show me where you can use a third party software like tele nav or something like that. And can we edit powerpoint word or excel on the I phone.please the phone is fun I like it. But when its time for buisiness its crap.
@ downsouth821:
The Storm has no support for IMAP mail. delete a messages in Outlook or webmail and doesn’t delete them on Storm, manual delete ONLY. The Storm browser is absolutely terrible. Storm’s media player is also terrible has no support for even allowing bookmarks! Goes back to the beginning of the track, podcast, each time. No Audible support for audiobooks either. No WiFi is a deal killer as it is an issue where VZW’s network is weak in my house and office. Also when traveling on WiFi equipped planes or using data or Voice calls from a free hotspot when out of the country. You are calling this a “real” smartphone? HOW! Keep it. I let Verizon keep it after trying one. No thanks.
@ downsouth821:
Excuse me but the most all BB at VZW have a locked GPS including my BB Curve. You have no ability to use any other direction apps other than what VZW sells for $10 a month. Tele Nav is NOT an option. Nor is any of the 2,000 plus apps for the iPhone that utilize location services in the App Store that use the unlocked GPS in the iPhone.
I find the Google Map app that is included in the iPhone and several apps I use from the App Store quite adequate and if I want turn by turn directions while driving I use a Nuvi that is better and cheaper than paying $10 a month in so little time. How practical is it to drive using a cell phone for this when you can not even use voice and data at the same time with the iStorm?
As far as mail you might notice that BB has no support for imap mail so it isnot the great email machine you claim.
There are several apps available to edit documents on the iPhone. In fact DataVIZ Documents to Go is already being tested (same as BB). With WiFi and active file sharing, WebDAV and FTP fetching documents on a local network or over the Internet is fast and easy with an iPhone, try it some time. Funy we run three iPhones in our office and we have found them much more productive than BB and Windows Mobile so “crap” is not a word we associate with the iPhone. Let’s be honest iPhones are not the ones being returned in large numbers the iStorm is. If you want a true business phone that would be the Bold, NOT the iStorm!
By the way, I not only know how an Exchange Server works I manage the one in my organization! The iPhone works well with it.
By the way there are now 13,014 iPhone apps in the App Store with many many of them very useful. BB has less than 700 in 8 years! HAHAHA
@downsouth 821 There is no doubt to Best Buy being impartial, hell they can offer such great deals for the phone they sell for NEW activations because of low overhead. Now when it comes to upgrading your phone then that’s a whole different story. Any authorized reseller despises doing upgrades because they get far less commission than they would get on new lines, which is why the offer better deals for new activations and different deals for qualified upgrades. As far as a simple phonebook transfer, AT&T can also do that as well for no fee. Also in regards to them getting trained, that’s true, but the training is so compressed it’s hard for them to get decent detailed training. Each carrier sends their reps out for training for at least two weeks before they even get started, and in some cases that’s not even enough. If you need someone to look at your phone if you are having issues, are you going to go to Best Buy for troubleshooting? No, you go directly to the carrier supporting your phone. So basically Best Buy reps make the commission, and the carrier reps get to deal with your problems because Best Buy won’t take ownership. Thats been my experience. In my own opinion, pick your poison.
@Paul your argument holds no water. You cant edit documents on the iphone out the box period. Your talking about a jail broken iphone. Second I never said the Gps on verizon blackberry was unlocked read what I wrote. But you can use google maps on the storm. Why would i be talking on the phone and using gps at the same time anyway, apparently I dont know where im going so i should be paying attention to the directions. Like i said the iphone is fun, but its far from unlock. its not a real buisness tool. I cant even use it with my work email. For the browser i use opera mini on our demos works great. And we tether it to a laptop to use as a modem.
Its funny how things work, i just had a customer that just left out my store. She wanted a iphone but could not get one because her work email does not support it. And you want to count apps, how many apps windows mobile have.
@ Joe Daddy Best buy upgrades are cheaper than the retail store also. And i was talking about apple store not att when i said phone book transfer.Apparently you have not been in best buy since they converted to best buy mobile.
I work in an Apple Store and we have had loads of people coming in after looking at the Storm and buying an iPhone instead. Reasons WiFi, better keyboard, App Store, Mac Syncing, better UI, audiobook support, is what they have said.
@ downsouth821:
OK we now get it, YOU sell the Storm so of course YOU think its better. I sell nothing, so I am a bit less biased, especially since I own both a VZW BB Curve and an iPhone!
You claim the iPhone can’t edit documents “out of the box” and apparently think the App Store and many of the apps that allow you to edit documents somehow don’t count, BUT adding Opera JUST TO GET A DECENT BROWSER on the iStorm is fine and EVEN NEEDED!! HAHAHA GIVE me a break! HAHA
I will point out that editing Office documents is NOT unique to the iStorm or any BB. All it requires is DataViz and the DocumentsToGo suite which is what is provided on the Storm. Same suite is available on WinMo and Palm. I will inform you that it is also coming to the iPhone, so soon you can scratch this off your list as any sort of advantage as it will not only be doable on an iPhone it will be the very same app!
Also note on the BB Storm DataViz holds back some features, like the ability to create new Word docs, for the premium edition. So purchasing and adding the app is required if users want a REAL business tool as you claim they need. The 13,234 iPhone apps matter, no matter what you say.
Do you have a quick way to add a decent media player that has at least a simple bookmark feature or WiFi to the iStorm? How about support for Audible? How about Pandora? Guess not. How about a decent keyboard or a way to silence the dopey clicker…
To say the iPhone is not a real business tool is crap, we have three of them in our office and think the iPhone is better than the BB for most BIZ stuff. At least the GPS is not locked.
Because one person’s company does not support the iPhone, means little. Most companies hand out the phones they allow and don’t even allow their employees to use company mail on a personal device. Since the iPhone is purchased almost exclusively by people spending their OWN money and in the last quarter (and probably in this quarter) they have chosen the iPhone more often than all of the BBs, who really cares! There is no doubt many companies will chose BB as they have been around longer, BUT the consumer market is larger and plenty of iPhones will be found in business I assure you.
Nothing wrong with a BB, I have one. The iStorm is a buggy neutered device and RIM did a poor job of copying the iPhone. I would recomend the Bold (a real BB).
Lying about features or lack of is NOT OK just so you can sell a certain device. Glad I don’t shop at your store. See I have a nice well tuned Bull-Shit meter and you ring up about a 9 out of 10!
If I sold the iStorm, I would like it better also. But I do not work in sales. So you may not loke my arguments, but I have an entire lake of water for you!
@ downsouth821:
OH I almost forgot to do what all the BB fanboys do. Tell you that this post is not about the iStorm, it is about the iPhone!!!!! How dare you bring up a competing device on an iPhone post!!!! What does the iStorm have to do with the iPhone in this POST! They tell you stick to the subject as they throw the firebombs at the readers!!! HAHAHA
That is how the BB fanboys get around comparing when the facts don’t go their way!!! HAHAHA
Fact its better to buy phones from best buy. Thats how the conversation started which it is. You brought up the storm. Saying it was buggy and crap. Saying the iphone was a better buisness tool. I know palm and windows have all those features. They are true buisness phones, i never said they didnt. I see you dont read to well. Im sure it will come to the iphone along with copy and paste. I never liked blackberry until the storm. The bold is nice but it not that different from the curve. It adds a new software higher res screen, 3g which cdma blackberry been having, and wifi. Soon your going to be able to put that new os on the curve so its not worth the price. So to say i hate the iphone or was just putting the storm against it is crazy. I never on a blackberry probaly never will because i dont care for them except the storm and i dont have vzw. O yeah its funny how you say the gps is locked and tele nav just came out with a app for it. True the agps side is locked but the gps. The iphone is nice fun fast os. Lots of games and everything thats why i got one but. Its no buisness tool like Palm windows mobile or a blackberry period.
@ downsouth821:
The Bold is not much different from the Curve you say? Really. The Bold is a more advanced BB with WiFi, better video screen, nicer keyboard, faster processor, more advanced OS. I own a BB and wish I had a Bold. Funny how it seems in your opinion about all smartphones are true business tools, except the iPhone. Seems it is VZW is the ONLY thing you like, since the iPhone and the Bold are unimpressive t you. HAHA
If you think the Storm is the best BB or the only one you like, I rest my case. NOT even crackberry addicts think the Storm is the best BB!
This is what I said:
“Drop your buggy iStorm and grab a real smartphone!
NO activation problems with the iPhone, that only happened on the first few weeks of release waaaaay back in July. I activated two iPhone at home after buying them in a store without ANY issues at all. Took two minutes!”
Maybe you want to read what you said here:
“True the storm is still buggy. But the iphone is far from a real smart phone.”
All I said was there were NO activation problems with the iPhone outside the AT&T store and mentioned the Storm was buggy! EVEN YOU admit the Storm is buggy. I just cleared up the nonsense about the activation problems. I was you that addressed me with all your opinions on how the Storm was better. I was not even talking to you.
I said the iPhone was a real smartphone as it has WiFi, 13,380 apps and isn’t broken. You can also use voice and data at the same time (Storm can not do this), use Audible, have a decent media player with bookmarks. In my opinion the iPhone is more of a smartphone than the buggy Storm. I hardly carry my laptop anymore.
You even claimed I knew nothing about Exchange Server. I admin Exchange Server and the iPhone supports Exchange Server! Maybe you might notice BB does not support IMAP mail. For many consumer users this is more of a problem as many of them have no Exchange.
Maybe it is you that might want to try reading. If you sell phones at Best Buy, being totally biased is not helping customers, especially when you have some of your facts wrong.
Now drop it as we do not want to upset the Mayor of the Blog as he does not like the free exchange of ideas when we point out any issues with the Storm or VZW.