As part of the deal around getting the price of the iPhone cut in half, AT&T is mandating that all iPhones be activated in store as part of the purchase process. They do not offer a non-subsidized price at all. What happens if you break your shiny new iPhone. The thing is made, in large part, of glass. Can you get a new one? Do you have to suffer yet another new contract? Credit check? Two more years of lock-in?