After its controversial iPhone price cut last September, Apple is stirring the smartphone segment once again. This time it is turning down all CASH payments for iPhone both in AT&T Wireless and Apple stores.

Apple has also limited the sale of iPhones to 2 per person. Just to be clear, this new limit is not based on a per transaction basis. Once you get 2 iPhones, you’re sort of banned from getting another handset.

In case you’re wondering if there’s any logic at all with these new policies, there is. According to Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris, this is an initiative to discourage mobile consumers to resell their highly valuable iPhones.

“Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift. We’re requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.”

More importantly and ever so cruelly, this will hamper the rampant unlocking of iPhones much to the dismay of many non-AT&T subscribers hoping for an iPhone experience.

An estimated 250,000 iPhones sold in the market are intended for unlocking and reselling, according to Apple’s chief operating officer Tim Cook.

Then again, why is Apple so desperate to make iPhone an exclusive property of AT&T? Ubergizmo says “AT&T is paying Apple $18 monthly on average for each iPhone sold - that amounts up to $432 over a two-year contract.”

On the other hand, it is also possible that this strategy will backfire and repeat the mistake Apple had committed in the PC industry.