The entire New York metropolitan area affected

Dec 28, 2009 11:56 GMT  ·  By

Mobile phone carrier AT&T has made a rather interesting move recently, namely it has halted the online sales of Apple's iPhone device in the New York metropolitan area. The online sales of the iPhone have been stopped on Sunday, it seems, and different voices over the Internet suggest that the move was determined by credit card fraud, data congestion, or routine sales strategy changes.

According to a recent post on Cnet, AT&T already issued a statement regarding its decision, and said that the online sales of the iPhone via AT&T's website have been ceased as the result of a routine strategic move. “We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels,” Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman, stated, reports the news site.

Those users willing to purchase the iPhone via AT&T's website, and which entered a New York area ZIP code reportedly received the following message: “We're sorry, there are no Packages & Deals available at this time. Please check back later.” Since one could easily access a wide range of iPhone offerings through simply changing the ZIP code to another U.S. metro area, it was obvious that only New York users were affected by the move.

On the other hand, the decision might have been determined by other factors, including the possibility to avoid data congestion. AT&T's network has been heavily criticized for its slow responsiveness due to the increased iPhone usage, and the New York area might be a problem from this perspective. Especially since densely populated urban areas are those to see the highest rate of slow download speeds or dropped calls on AT&T's network.

Another explanation for the move is said to be an “increased fraudulent activity in that area when ordering the iPhone,” as the Gearlog blog notes, citing another official from the wireless carrier, with no additional details being unveiled. One thing that should be noted here is that the device is still available for purchase from Apple's stores in the area.