Please Help. Purchasing Iphone 4

Question

Okay so here's my dilemna.
My relative would like to send me an iphone 4 as a graduation present. Pretty cool right? Although she lives out of the country more specifically in Canada. I want to accept this gift very much but I don't know the best way to go about it. I heard the iphone gift card is good but I'm not sure about the delivery from Canada to United States. Or should she directly just order the iphone. Because I heard in-store pick up of those things have very low availability. Please Help Me ASAP. I WANT MY IPHONE 4
*edit: i hear that the at&t online shop has the iphone delivered within 7-10 days which is more so convinient then the 3 weeks the apple store has. any ideas on that? i'm pretty sure you can't gift it from the at&t store.
Message was edited by: Draner2006

Answer 1

Factory unlocked means it was legitimately unlocked to work with any GSM network. iPhones sold in the US are carrier-locked to AT&T and cannot be used on any other network. The iPhone 4 will be available in Canada this month. An unlocked and contract-free iPhone (which is said to be sold in Canada later this month) will be much more expensive than having your relative front you the money and buying it straight from AT&T. AT&T offers the iPhone at a subsidized price with a 2 year contract, which saves a few hundred dollars from buying the iPhone at full retail price, which an unlocked and contract-free iPhone is sold at.
The best thing would be to have your relative buy an iPhone Gift Card and have it shipped to you, so you can buy it. New AT&T customers and existing customers that are eligible for an upgrade can get the iPhone 4 at the $199/$299 subsidized price for the 16/32 GB models. Existing customers that are not eligible for an upgrade can get the early upgrade pricing of $399/$499. Both options require a new 2 year contract. Log on to your AT&T account to see what your upgrade options are (if you are an existing AT&T customer). The full retail price of the iPhone 4 is $599/$699. Taxes and upgrade/activation fees apply. So the actual cost is more, but whatever you find the cost to be, have her enter it in on the gift card when she purchases it. I believe she can have it shipped directly to you from Apple. I would call Apple to make sure you can use an iPhone Gift Card bought in Canada at a US Apple or AT&T store.
http://store.apple.com/us/personalize/iphone?product=MB891LL/B
Message was edited by: eaglesflight1258