Brief Hands-On Report--Apple posted iPhone $100 Store Credit Details

Apple posted the details on how to get a $100 store credit for iPhone early adopters. To qualify, you must have bought an iPhone (a 4GB or 8GB model is not specified) at full price, i.e. without a discount of any kind, before August 22, after which Apple's price protection policy applies. The price protection claim for $200 must be made at the exact place of purchase by September 19, after which you may still file for the $100 store credit.

The $100 store credit claim must be filed by November 30 or you will get nothing.

We followed the three steps listed on the store credit Web page and received the $100 store credit for our 8GB iPhone.

In step one, you enter your iPhone's 10-digit number and serial number. The latter is found under Settings->General->About. After doing this, you will get a text message with an access code. Our text message arrived within seconds of entering the serial number.

In Step 2, you enter the access code from the text message.

In Step 3, a store credit number and PIN number are displayed in Safari following Step 2. You can print out the credit number and PIN and make a screen shot of it using the shift-command-4 keys.

The $100 store credit can be used to purchase any Apple product from an Apple Store, retail or online, and it appears to be good forever until expended. [Bill Fox]