[Chefario]

I don't fully understand the relationship of Apple/AT&T. It appears to me that Apple is overdoing it a tad. AT&T should be signing up the new customers, running the credit checks, etc... they are the service provider after all. AT&T should be allowed to order enough for their stores (maybe they are, it appears Apple is controlling this) and their anticipated new subscribers. Apple has designed a fantastic product that is bringing a tremendous amount of subscribers to AT&T. Nokia is not signing up customers for service plans, neither is Palm, or RIM, why Apple? Is AT&T making them? Seems odd no matter who's idea it is. Apple can still generate tremendous buzz and streamline the process by only selling iphones as upgrades to existing iPhone subscribers. You go to the Apple store, pick out the model you want, tell them your phone number, they verify it, charge your card and you are gone, simple. This is basically what happened to us Friday. It took all of 10 minutes to get my phone up and running after we purchased it. We took it home to set it up, still in the shrink wrap! Of course that was after we stood in line for 9 hours. There was only 283 people in front of us, it should have been about 3 hours? Apple needs to focus on what they do well (Remember the 96/97 Keynote) making great products and software. Let AT&T do the paperwork.

[distortedloop]

clayshima said:

I beg to differ.
So all the early adopters that went in line were so naive to believe that
all the products coming together in the rollout would come smoothly?
Come on! Geeks will be geeks, right? People who supposedly can
understand the technicalities of such a huge launching? I guess many
saw it coming.

The issue is that Apple made a public announcement, three days before the launch that said the process took 15 minutes, the Apple employees had been trained properly, and that they were being staffed to handle 100 customers per hour. They clearly weren't because even after the iTunes issues have been resolved, it's still taking Apple far longer to process a customer, and they're not moving anywhere near 10 customer per hour here in LA, let alone the advertised 100. How many of us would not have showed up if we had been told it would be the fiasco it was. Glitches I can understand, but a total lack of any idea of what the real process would be is inexcusable from a company that prides itself on the customer experience.

Quote

And about Apple's attitude: you people in the continental USA were
lucky enough to AT LEAST have the sympathizing presence of the
Apple Store's staffs. Outside USA people were mostly enraged by the
total "shut off" stance of the carriers selling the iPhone.

Apple wasn't communicating. The employees were nice enough, but they had no clue what the deal was and why iTunes and AT&T were taking so much longer than they'd been trained to expect.

It's the credit checks that are mucking up the system. Apple should have three lines at each store:

One for current AT&T iPhone customers eligible for an upgrade.

One for current AT&T that aren't.

One for new customers who need a credit check.

Presumably the first two groups can be handled quickly, so why make them wait while the others bog down the system?

[robogobo]

This is nothing more than AT&T's greedy contract practices that Apple is having to support. Apple should have done the whole iPhone thing on their own. Their mistake was teaming up with AT&T in the first place. Instead of keeping customers by offering a good product and good service, they have to coerce and trap them. That and only that is the reason for all this mess. No product launch should be this much headache. Make it, sell it, and let your customers use it. It should be that easy. AT&T and Apple have their fist clinched so tightly around the iPhone that they took all the joy out of it.

[EFX]

Hey Look... I may NEVER own an iphone. Not because of any political reason but because I just don't need a phone that costs that much.
BUT I do pay for a .mac/me account which STILL has problems in ways that disrupts my business.
The analogy in this case is... you just don't show up for work for 3 or 4 days. Then when your boss asks you what happened you say, "I haven't released a public comment and I apologize for any inconvenience." Then walk away.
Not the best.

[alansky]

Apple’s response to these reports was to have no response.
Actually, Apple's response was to fix their massive fkup within a matter of hours. What did Apple need to say? "Yes, we screwed up and we're fixing things as fast as we can"? Perhaps some people expected a little public blood-letting on Apple's part over this incident, but this would not have benefitted anyone.

[Howmanoid]

I do marketing for a living. The launch was too ambitious. The result was unfortunate given last years activation melt down. The response is horribly inadequate given the fact that Apple enjoys so much loyalty from its customers. Show a little respect Apple. Talk to us!

[bugjuice]

even tho there's a lot of negative press and comments about the Apple world on Friday, if you think about the flip-side of the coin here, Apple did something unheard of.
Yes, they launched a new product, a major software update, a major new online store, and a major online update, in one hit.
The new product brought not just Apple, but the carriers, to their knees.
The new software update, crippled servers
The new online store (seemed?) to actually go without too much hassle
The new online update was so popular, it kept making things fall over.
People want everything Apple has to offer, and then some. So when millions of people all want the same thing at the same time, people get pissed off when there's not enough fruit to go around?
come on..
I'm clapping in their direction. They took on a stupidly monstrous task, and almost pulled it off perfectly.

[PXTPXT]

Some people have suggested that Apple should have staggered the release with products coming out on different dates to reduce the load on servers. I would have preferred that they staggered the release geographically.

I'm in the UK and last year I enjoyed the release in the US of the original iPhone and watched all the coverage. It was exciting ( for those of us who like that sort of thing ), but also nice to know that we had six months for all the issues to be ironed out before we had our turn. Our wait created a sense of anticipation.

This year, bringing out these four major changes on the same day was also exciting. If they had done just the US, or even split the US into waves, first there would have been all the excitement of the multiple product releases, plus the anticipation of waiting for our turn and a better experience for customers. Then, of course, bring in the rest of the countries in small, weekly, waves.

This also would have created a rolling news story that would have kept Apple in the news for weeks.

[spinoza2]

Millions of lemmings, er, commuters pile onto California freeways every morning and sit, stupefied, in abysmal gridlock for hours on end. This insanity could easily be avoided (I did), but the morbid convenience of sitting in some status car (or not) outweighs what for outsiders is a serious mass psychosis.
In the same way, people should have anticipated and easily avoided Friday's problems by patiently waiting a few days (I did). To blame Apple for having millions of people show up at the same time is flat out ridiculous: just like California gridlock, people cause such problems, not the freeways, and not Apple. The people who are complaining about Friday's problems are acting like spoiled babies, or even worse, like alcoholics who blame society for willingly engaging in destructive behavior.
I for one would be disappointed if Apple felt compelled to humiliate itself by appeasing these people with some sort of apology.

[mjkphoto]

Stony silence? Apple arrogance. It's what I've come to expect from Apple.

[wolfjo]

Are you serious? You really don't understand why Apple is controlling this and not sending phones to ATT?
How about its the first opportunity to get millions of Windows users to come to the Apple Store and try out the rest of their products?
In the process, however, they have really screwed a lot of their current customers. I had to have the FAN taken off my account since there are NO iPhones at ATT stores around me. They were sold out at 11AM on Friday, and have not been resupplied (any of them). Thanks Steve. I will now try and buy one at the few Apple stores that has phones...
To be honest, I wonder if he was really in charge of this launch. It seems egotistical, which would fit, but lacking in some business savvy, which would not...

[wolfneuralnet]

spinoza2 said:

Millions of lemmings, er, commuters pile onto California freeways every morning and sit, stupefied, in abysmal gridlock for hours on end. This insanity could easily be avoided (I did), but the morbid convenience of sitting in some status car (or not) outweighs what for outsiders is a serious mass psychosis.
The people who are complaining about Friday's problems are acting like spoiled babies, or even worse, like alcoholics who blame society for willingly engaging in destructive behavior.

Wow - way to show your total lack up understanding of addiction, at the same time getting on your high horse about car commuters. I have never seen such an interesting combination of green friendly people-hating. Love mother earth, hate the people on it? Cheers.

[vfx2k4]

Or maybe it's just symptomatic of the utter petulance and impatience of tech addicted folks in our society. Why does everyone need a 3G iPhone the second they come out? Why not, oh say wait a month or two and get it when the bugs are worked out, supplies are ample and there's no lines. What a concept...

[spinoza2]

I bought my iPhone at a local Apple Store on Saturday afternoon in suburban Boston. The line was about 15 minutes long, and the purchase/activation process took a little more than 5 minutes. I brought my iPhone 3G home, and it has worked like a charm from the start. From my own experience, Apple's rollout was executed flawlessly. The Apple staff were friendly, extremely patient, and knowledgeable. The same has been true with my experience with ATT: since owning an iPhone 2G a year ago, I have found their customer service exemplary. In the greater Boston area both ATT's voice and data network quality has been rock solid for me, and so far the 3G quality has been extensive and reliably (very) fast.

In the media one tends to hear (and amplify) those who criticize, but my suspicion is that the vast majority iPhone owners are, like me, happy campers.