buying an iphone in the US

hi there

I live in the UK and i'm off to Florida in a couple of weeks and looking at buying an Iphone, now I know that they don't do off-contract or pay-as-you-go like they do in the UK and the Iphone is AT&T only, my question is can anyone walk into a store and buy one, is the buying process tied to having to sign up with AT&T right there in the store?

To buy a phone like that in the UK you have to sign up to the provider then and there, for some reason in the US I get the impression that you can buy the unit for $299 and then once your home sign it up with AT&T - please clear this up for me

Many thanks

I may be completely wrong about this, so I would suggest hearing from someone more experienced. But my understanding from talking to a friend who just activated his iPhone, you must also sign up for the contract because in store purchases are activated on the spot and not by the customer at home. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Everything is set up in the store at the time you purchase the phone. You could just buy the phone itself but you're going to be paying through the roof for it and the phone is a dud unless you jailbreak it.

Check this out:
"If you’ve been itching to buy yourself an iPhone without the pesky two-year commitment to AT&T, then your chance is finally here. According to the Associated Press, AT&T will offer no-commitment purchases of 8GB and 16GB iPhones for $599 and $699, respectively, beginning on March 26th"

Source: AT&T to sell iPhone without two-year commitment | Phones | iPhone Central | Macworld

I would buy it from eBay if I was you. You must activate the iPhone before you leave the store.