AT&T Stops iPhone Sales In New York, Can’t Get Their Story Straight

Customers in New York who have recently tried to order an iPhone online were greeted with a friendly message that states in the most simple of terms that the iPhone isn’t available for New York Customers. Now several reasons for the New York removal have surfaced and they appear to be all over the place in terms of reasoning.

First, a call to AT&T by the Consumerist revealed the following conversation:

Daphne: Welcome to AT&T online Sales support. How may I assist you with placing your order today?

Laura: Hi, I was looking at the iPhone 3Gs and the system tells me that I cannot order one in my ZIP code. My zip code is 11231. (Brooklyn, NY) Is this true? Are iPhones no longer available in New York City?

Daphne: I am happy to be helping you today . Yes, this is correct the phone is not offered to you because New York is not ready for the iPhone.

Daphne: You don’t have enough towers to handle the phone.

Laura: Thank you for your help. So the phone is not available to people anywhere in the city?

Daphne: Yes this is correct Laura.

In early December AT&T’s own CEO sais that he wanted to limit iPhone user usage to pull strain off the companies network, however pulling their best selling device from the largest city in the United States hardly seems like the most responsible step the company could take, nor the most profitable move.

AT&T however is now claiming that the issue has nothing to do with network strain or the lack of available towers in New York, but rather they have issued a press statement that reads: “We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels,” which would be like Apple saying, “Sorry no more Macbooks for California.”

The final rumor is that the number of fraud cases in New York online sales have skyrocketed, leading to the removal of the device from the companies website, another rumor which has been shot down by AT&T but with no further details provided.

Whatever the case may be, I suggest Verizon release a new commercial for the Droid with a simple message “Droid Does New York.” Talk about a PR nightmare!