<p>I was at the Apple Store this evening (same one as the lady that got Tasered) and while someone was working on my system, I noticed a lady and guy next to me with 20 iPhones on the counter. He was putting them in a plastic bag while they were recording the numbers or barcode off of the boxes. By the time I was done, they had purchased 60 of them though there was no indication that they were done with their purchases.</p>
<p>So I do believe that lady now that said that she saw others buying large quantities of iPhones. I can only guess that this was a commercial customer that had some kind of arrangement at the corporate level. At any rate, the receipts at this store must be eye-popping if this happens on a regular basis.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that’s technically true. The Use tax is if the item was purchased for use in MA. She indicated that she bought them for her family in China so presumably she wouldn’t owe a Use tax. Of course, the MA system is voluntary and she would normally be allowed to file it with her 2012 MA return if she has income.</p>
<p>“The Massachusetts use tax is 6.25 percent of the sales price or rental charge on tangible personal property 1 (including phone and mail order items or items purchased over the Internet) or certain telecommunications services 2 on which no sales tax, or a sales tax rate less than the 6.25 percent Massachusetts rate, was paid and which is to be used, stored or consumed in the Commonwealth.”</p>
<p>“Sales where the purchaser intends to resell the item or telecommunications services in the regular course of business are exempt. In these cases, a Sales Tax Resale Certificate (Form ST-4 ) must be given to and retained by the seller as proof the sale was exempt for the reasons stated on the certificate. Vendors can confirm the validity of their customers’ sales and use tax registration and resale certificates online through DOR’s Sales Tax Resale Certificate Verification System.”</p>
<p>“Sales where the purchaser accepts title to and possession of an item outside Massachusetts generally are exempt. Similarly, if a vendor is obligated to deliver to an out-of-state purchaser’s address or to an interstate common carrier for such a delivery, the sale is not taxable in Massachusetts. Generally, however, any taxable item brought into the state within six months of purchase for use, storage or consumption in Massachusetts s subject to the use tax.”</p>
<p>. I can only guess that this was a commercial customer that had some kind of arrangement at the corporate level. At any rate, the receipts at this store must be eye-popping if this happens on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Its so easy to order online why wouldn’t you do it that way if you were ordering for a business?
Who wants to get mugged on the way to the parking lot?</p>
<p>^To save on shipping? Or to hold them in your hand? I was doing all of my holiday shopping on line this year. I finally went out yesterday to get a few last minute items. It was different. It was good to hold the goods in my hand, no shipping box to deal with, either.</p>
<p>There’s a satellite police station in the mall - I’m sure that the Apple Store could have requested a security officer from the mall or a police officer from the police station to escort the buyer to his vehicle.</p>
<p>He looked like a guy that could take care of himself at any rate.</p>
<p>If you want to feel nervous, walk out of a coin shop with a few pounds of gold coins.</p>
<p>They don’t. At least for the stuff that I’ve bought online.</p>
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<p>I don’t know if it’s worthwhile stealing iPhones given the general initiatives by the telecomm companies to prevent theft. In the old days, you could just pop in another SIMM card but I don’t think that you can do that anymore as they get the hardware ID of the device.</p>
<p>There was a young lady that was raped in Beacon Hill recently by a repeat sex offender. The rapist took her phone and sold the phone to a guy at a barber shop and they found the phone and the barber told the police who he bought it from and they caught the guy.</p>
<p>He was arraigned and released on stealing the phone in the jurisdiction of the barber shop (unbelievable). Police then took him to Boston where he was charged with the assault and they set high bail.</p>
<p>This is NH too, the guy and/or the lady may have been packing.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s worthwhile stealing iPhones given the general initiatives by the telecomm companies to prevent theft. In the old days, you could just pop in another SIMM card but I don’t think that you can do that anymore as they get the hardware ID of the device.</p>
<p>I thought the phone companies werent keeping track. They have a “plan”, but is there any indication it has been implemented?</p>
<p>ATT customers filed a lawsuit earlier this year.</p>
<p>It’s a non-issue now. Google Maps, quite a bit improved over what would have been there before, is now back on iOS. Google could have avoided the mess, including losing a lot of ad revenue, by just updating it in the first place.</p>
<p>Went to the local Apple Store this morning to drop off a machine for diagnostic testing. I saw about 8-10 people buying iPhones in bricks of ten. When one was done, they were replaced with someone else. These are either businesses or people shipping them to companies where iPhones aren’t available yet I think. It was crazy to watch.</p>
<p>BTW, the store was packed. They had something like 70 employees there (they usually have 30-40). People didn’t just spend the last month shopping? It was somewhat difficult getting around in the store.</p>
<p>Oh crap^
I was going to upgrade my iphone today while we are in Portland ( cause no sales tax & now I am eligible for discount)
I guess I will try anyway.</p>
<p>Because Google maps is an app now and because Youtube is now an app, Google will make more ad revenue and have to share less with Apple. Apple clearly cut off its nose to spite its face.</p>
<p>Apple’s version of Google maps used Google for search and generated all its revenue for Google. It wasn’t a 70-30 split like the proceeds from selling an app. Something similar with youtube. The new arrangement does allow Google to add more ads, but the real thing is this: Apple had refused to give Google personal data and Google wants to own your data. So now when you use the Google Maps app it repeatedly and in every way it can tries to get you to log in to its services so it can track you, absorb your data and own your data. Apple refused to let Google have access to this stuff. Google’s entire business model is based on them owning your data. As part of the struggle to get your data, Google refused to give Apple vector-based maps - Apple had to use bitmaps, which are bigger and slower - and refused to give them turn-by-turn directions. Now Apple has both and you have the choice to give Google your personal privacy information or not.</p>