Method and system having a virtual stock keeping unit for configurable mobile phone purchases

A method to configure customizable mobile devices, comprising:

• receiving, by a configurator and from a retail point-of-sale computing system, a notification of a sale of a customizable mobile device to a user, the notification of the sale comprising a stock-keeping-unit activation request and user identification information, the stock-keeping-unit activation request corresponding to a stock-keeping-unit identifier for the customizable mobile device, wherein the customizable mobile device has not yet been assembled by a manufacturing system;
• authenticating, by the configurator, the stock-keeping-unit activation request;
• in response to authenticating the stock-keeping-unit activation request, activating, by the configurator, the stock-keeping-unit identifier that corresponds to the authenticated stock-keeping-unit activation request;
• transmitting, by the configurator, an activation confirmation to the point-of-sale computing system, the activation confirmation comprising a configuration access code;
• receiving, by the configurator and after completion of the sale of the customizable mobile device that has not yet been assembled by the manufacturing system, a mobile device configuration request that corresponds to the activated stock-keeping-unit identifier and the configuration access code for the customizable mobile device that has not yet been assembled, the mobile device configuration request comprising one or more mobile device options selected by the user for the customizable mobile device that has not yet been assembled by the manufacturing system;
• generating, by the configurator, a bill of material in response to receiving the configuration request;
• and
• transmitting, by the configurator, the bill of material to the manufacturing system instructing assembly of the customized mobile device in accordance with the one or more mobile device options selected by the user for the customizable mobile device and information associated with the stock-keeping-unit, wherein the manufacturing system assembles the customized mobile device in accordance with the bill of material instructing assembly of the customized mobile device.