Apple employees to get free iPhones

i actually read elsewhere that ALL fulltime employees get an iphone, and all part time employees who have been there longer than a year. which, i really hope is true, because i started monday =)

...still not worth it to work for Apple. I would need way more than $600 to give up weekends, nights, lower pay, bad management, etc.

@ punkassjim : In any type of retail environment, using a mobile phone while it's your shift usually means a telling off - that's why we have vibration.

Does the iPhone have vibration!?!

@ 18 & 19
Um, generally, Apple employees who use their cell phones in the workplace get reprimanded. This will not change. Any Apple employee caught using their personal iPhone while on duty in the store will likely get a big slap on the wrist. If a customer needs a demo, they'll likely have demo phones tethered to the alarm system.

I don't mean to sound like Apple is really strict about stuff...most employees at Apple tend to have good common sense, and when the hear something about using your phone on the floor, they usually say "well, duh."

@16 - Yes. Just like all Apple employees get an iPod.

Also keeps them from buying up all the available phones tomorrow and upsetting customers (Like what happens with Best Buy employees when consoles launch). How mad would you be if half the stock was bought by Apple Store employees and you got shafted?

@18 - That's just plain dumb, everyone can't afford a SmartPhone. So untill Apple releases iPhone Nano, not likely, not likely at all in fact.

rottenappley, interesting and logical view. I wonder if Apple will eventually ban (or frown upon) non-iPhones in its work places.

"I take this as a good sign that Apple was able to make lots of these phones"

One could read this the opposite way, of course: perhaps Apple IS concerned about supply, and they don't want employees taking any from the first shipments. Hence the decision to wait 4 weeks for the supply chain to stabilize before the employees get theirs.

It's not unlike a strategy well-known to anyone who's worked in a big box store: save the parking spots up front for the customers, and make the employees park in the back.

But we're all just wildly speculatin' now, aren't we? It sure is fun, though!

#1. I'm sure the 11 month employees will get the standard once-per-year 25% off Apple gives to employees for macs and iPods.

#13. I hear the Apple, Inc secret police are good at checking eBay and Craiglist to make sure employees don't use their employee discounts to turn a profit on the merch. Selling that stuff on eBay is grounds for immediate dissmisal. Do you make a quick buck or keep your job?

Having an iPhone will be status symbol for them anyway.

He also stated the NEXT GENERATION iPod... yes there will be another iPod (for those that were naysayin (yesterday?)). And it will run an embedded version of OS X, like the iPhone.