A question

Nik asked this in a comment on the last post:

Why Apple? They have little or nothing to do with phone service activation. They may as well be any run of the mill 3rd party AT&T retailer.

Here's why Apple. They sell the phone in their stores, and the phone requires activation. Sure, that may not be their usual line of work, but if they're selling a product that requires activation, I expect them to know how to do it. They didn't have some sort of list published that said if you're a new customer, come here, but if there's anything at all different about your situation, you better go to an AT&T store, cause we won't have a fracking clue. I would expect the same of any third party AT&T retailer who was selling the iPhone. If it has to leave your store activated, you better know how to do it.