My friend is doing the Physical copy of Skyrim for his PC, while I am doing the Steam one. Yes, they are both essentially the same thing, one just comes with a manual and map. My concern is, he chose this route cuz of in-store credit and the fact that he won't have internet in his new apartment. Now, he didn't realize it's a Steamworks game so it will need Steam to activate. I recently saw him and told him of this and you could probably understand his emotions at the time. My question is, if I give him my pre-load data (or he uses his disc install), and go over there on the 11th and let him connect to 3G through my Droid, will he just be able to activate and go on his merry way? My understanding was you needed to be connected to the internet for this. He won't be able to download a patch through my phone's network, but he should be able to activate/unlock, unless that requires patching. His Steam is currently in Offline mode so he can play his other games. I would greatly appreciate constructive posts on this matter. If my friend can't be helped he can't be helped, I'll just tell him to pack up his computer and bring it over here for an hour or two.

TL;DR - My friend doesn't have internet, is he essentially screwed for getting this game?

Best option.
He packs his rig up and heads to your house.There will be a day 1 patch that fixes bugs.I belive he needs a connection to even start the install process...I could be mistaken though.Been so long that I installed a physical steam game.

You have to have an internet connection to Steam to verify your installation. After he's installed and completely updated the game (There IS a day one patch) he can go into offline mode and play forever