All recent MacBooks I have seen insist rather hard to be paired with an account and a credit card number. I have never done the initial setup of an iOS device, but I would have assumed that it was the same or worse.
I have a 2011 MacBook and my wife has two iPhones, none of which are paired with a credit card.
It's been a while since I set it up, but if I recall correctly you can create your "Apple ID" online and select 'None' for the credit card, then you sign in on your device with that account.
When you're creating an account on the device, I think it may force you pair a credit card though.
It doesn't force you, but it is pretty insistent. You have to look for options really hard to see how to avoid entering a credit card. But it is possible.
Interesting. My experience was that I eventually resigned to giving a fake identity and a fake credit card number to get rid of all the nagging and annoyances. That's with a 2010 MacBook (annoyances appeared during an OS upgrade, if I recall), a 2012 MacBook Pro and a 2013 MacBook Air.
Interesting. Can you access any form of store without a credit card and without giving away your identity to Apple? And, just as importantly, can joe/jane user do it?
If by 'form of store' you mean the official Apple store; yes. I've never purchased a single thing from Apple's 'app store' (and don't really plan to). Everything I've needed so far is free.
The identity part? I have an account, so yes, some sort of 'identity' is revealed, but that doesn't relate to the credit card part.
They still do not know a thing about any of my credit cards, from initial setup to everyday use.
That's what I meant by my question: is there any reasonable manner in which joe/jane user could decide to not punch in their credit card and still manage to setup the device?
All recent MacBooks I have seen insist rather hard to be paired with an account and a credit card number. I have never done the initial setup of an iOS device, but I would have assumed that it was the same or worse.