Apple no longer allowing cash payment for the iPhone.

They don't want unauthorized resellers is the reason they give. So they need to track you.

Apple needs user information -- but it needs user information in order to turn the iPhone into a fully personalized device. And that is the pretext by which it should be seeking to get user information. To act like a bully and force customers to pay with credit cards because you don't want unauthorized resellers creates an antagonistic relationship with customers. Not the way a platform player should be thinking.

But then again, Apple's never been a platform player -- something everyone should remember.