Apple's iPhone faces hang-up in 19 states

Apple Inc.'s new iPhone is expected to make a big splash when it hits the stores in June, but you reportedly won't be able to buy them in all or large portions of about 19 states.

That's because it is being offered with exclusive service offered by AT&T's Cingular Wireless, which can't be sold to residents in those places, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.


The iPhone service won't be available in all or large portions of Alaska, Colorado, the Dakotas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, upstate New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming, among other places.

While Cingular customers can roam on other networks or other carriers, new customers have to live in communities the company serves.

Cupertino-based Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) unveiled the iPhone, which combines an iPod music player, cell phone and full-featured Internet browser, earlier this month at Macworld in San Francisco. Apple has a large operation with several hundred employees in Elk Grove.