AT&T wants to make sure you're ready to go when your brand new iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus arrives tomorrow, so customers who bought directly from the carrier are getting personalized videos with details about their order and device activation. Assuming you bought your iPhone from AT&T instead of Apple, there's an message waiting in your email in your inbox with a link to your personalized video.
AT&T is personalizing iPhone 6s purchase videos
AT&T's video lets you know when your iPhone shipped, which is actually an incorrect date for most of us. It claims our iPhones shipped on September 18, but the tracking numbers show they really shipped on the 21st. The 18th is most likely the date our orders were tagged for shipping.
The video instructs customers to download an AT&T app for transferring data from your old phone to your new one. That's probably there for Android device users switching to iPhone. If you're already an iPhone user, your data will move from your latest backup to your new phone.
Oddly, the video instructs customers to go to AT&T's website to activate their new iPhone instead of using iTunes on their Mac or PC. We'll test that on Friday after our iPhone 6s units arrive.
AT&T says to activate your iPhone via their site, not iTunes
If you're watching the video on your iPhone, it should play fine. On your Mac, however, Flash is required. That means you'll need to install Flash on your Mac or PC, or install Google Chrome because it comes with its own sandboxed Flash. Since the video is available in a non-Flash version on the iPhone, you'd think AT&T could play the same version on your Mac or PC.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were introduced earlier this month at an Apple media event, and pre-orders started on Saturday, September 12, for delivery on September 25th. The new iPhone models will also be in stores on the 25th.
What you pay for your new iPhone is pretty much the same regardless of the carrier providing your voice and wireless data service, so it's up to each company to find ways to entice customers in. That translates to customer service, and that's what AT&T seems to be going for with its custom videos for new iPhone purchases.