Apple refuses cash as tender for purchasing iPhone! What?!

According to an Associated Press article, Apple Inc. is forbidding the sale of its popular iPhones to anyone wishing to pay cash or purchase more than two (2) units. The reason given is that some people are purchasing the phone for the express reason of reselling them; some after altering the phone to work with carriers other than Apple’s partner carrier, AT&T. This is clearly in violation of the terms of service (TOS) and Apple is attempting to protect their investment.

Now, I’m all for protecting the integrity of one’s products and investments, but telling me that I can’t use a legal tender – cash?! If this isn’t illegal, shouldn’t it be? I’m certainly not an attorney, but it seems to me that if I wish to purchase something using a legal U.S. tender then I should be able to do so without a company telling me that I need to use a credit card (or even a debit card). I personally don’t believe in credit and never buy anything that I can’t purchase with cash.

And what about the hundreds of thousands of people that have come to our country who don’t yet have credit or even a bank account? (These individuals typically use check-cashing companies to cash their paycheck.) I guess Apple is saying that they can’t purchase iPhones either.

The whole thing just smacks of an over-reaction where Apple is limiting the ability for honest people to purchase the phones in order combat the problem of a very small amount of people who are breaking their TOS agreements. Tsk, tsk, Apple. Maybe you should also think of who you’re hurting (including your own reputation) and not just who you’re going after.