[serpicolugnut]

While I had an extremely hard time on Friday getting my phone activated, getting it purchased was a piece of cake. I was one of the first 30 in line at the Apple Store Mall of Georgia. I made it in to the store at about 8:15. The guy let me select my phone, and then asked me about my current plan (already own iPhone 1.0), explained the new data plan pricing, asked me if I wanted to change the minutes on the plan or add text msgs, and then asked me for me phone number. One minute after he asked me for my phone number and processed my credit card, my original iPhone flashed "NO SERVICE", and it was clear the account had been transferred to the new SIM and IMEI code on the new iPhone. The employee asked me if I wanted to head back to the genius bar to have someone run me through using it. I declined, and left. I was in my car heading home at 8:20.
Of course, when I got home and tried to activate the phone through iTunes, it failed. I wasn't able to activate the phone until about 3:30.
Was I pissed. You betcha. 7 hours (7 business hours, I will add) without access to my phone/calls was rough. But I'm a big boy. I survived it.
I've heard people blaming AT&T for this mess. The only way AT&T could be responsible is if iTunes, during activation, pings AT&T servers and that was the point of failure. I don't find that likely. iTunes was the point of failure, and for that I blame Apple. Couple this with the MobileMe fiasco two days before, and you have a customer who has had his confidence in Apple delivering quality online solutions seriously shaken.
Apple really could have used Internap's help that day.

[distortedloop]

wolfjo said:

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?

Well, to be honest, I think MONEY is also part of the reason. Even at a subsidized price, I am sure there is some retail markup involved in the iPhone. Example, it costs Apple $100 to make one, they're charging $300 for them. If AT&T gets the hardware sale, they pocket the $200 retail profit. If Apple gets the hardware sale, they pocket that $200. Considering Apple no longer gets part of the service revenue, they need to sell the hardware to make up for that lost revenue.

As far as getting new Windows users into the strore, makes sense, BUT, it sure back fired, because even now, 5 days later, Apple is not letting people just come in and browse for Macs and stuff in some locations. And those in line, here in the suburbs of Los Angeles, are still spending 5 hours in some locations outside the store, not inside, so there's no browsing of Macs and stuff for them. Let's face it, who, after spending hours standing in line to get a phone, are going to do anything other than run home and rest after hours and hours on their feet waiting for a phone; buying a Mac is the last thing on their mind at that point.

[distortedloop]

vfx2k4 said:

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...

Maybe you should be thanking us early adopters for working out the bugs on the device so that you can wait a couple of months to get a better operating device, rather than insulting us for being enthusiastic about something, Just a thought.

And please, don't ever let me see you standing in line any kind for a two hour movie, or a prime time meal at a restaurant, or some sporting event; the movie will be come out on HBO eventually so you don't have to wait in line, there are restaurants that don't have waits, and you can watch the sporting event on TV. If you've ever stood in line for anything, your criticism of those who stood in line for a phone are hypocritical.

We all have different values, why insult those whose values do nothing to harm you, just because you don't share them?

spinoza2 said:

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....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.

Well, as an East Coaster, you didn't have the rest of the US trying to slam the servers at the time your Apple Store opened up, and if you read my earlier tales, you'll see that here in Los Angeles, every day, still, there are long lines and EXTREMELY long sales processes. At the Sherman Oaks Apple Store last night, my friend stood in line for 5 hours; she was 40th in line, and at 8:30 they sent her home from the line with TEN PEOPLE still in front of her. Apple processed a whopping 30 people in 5 hours?!!? There is something wrong with this process, despite it working well for others in some locations

I'm a happy camper. The new phone is great; but that doesn't change the fact that Apple either lied, or was completely clueless, about the process, how long it would take, and how customers would react to it.

serpicolugnut said:

While I had an extremely hard time on Friday getting my phone activated, getting it purchased was a piece of cake. I was one of the first 30 in line at the Apple Store Mall of Georgia. I made it in to the store at about 8:15. .... But I'm a big boy. I survived it.

I've heard people blaming AT&T for this mess. The only way AT&T could be responsible is if iTunes, during activation, pings AT&T servers and that was the point of failure. I don't find that likely. iTunes was the point of failure, and for that I blame Apple.

As an another East Coaster, near the front of the line, your experience was much difference than that of those who live further west or arrived later in the day. Glad you had a good experience, and that you survived it. We all did, but that doesn't mean it's something we can't be upset about on some level.

It IS AT&T's fault, but Apple is not blameless. You must know that it is AT&T's insistence that phones be on contract and activated before leaving the store, don't you? Since Apple gets ZERO revenue after the sale of the phone, they have no bone to pick about whether you ever get an AT&T contract or not; therefore you must blame AT&T's fear of not getting every single customer who gets an iPhone locking in for two years on the requirement to activate in store.

Additionally, if you're anything other than a current iPhone customer upgrading to your phone, the process is more than 5 minutes. Credit checks, plan selections, etc. At the Apple Store I went to, by the time I got into the store, NO ONE was being activated via iTunes, we all left the store with shrink wrapped phones. With that in mind, why was it still taking 15-40 minutes to get people through the AT&T part of the process? I was in the store for an hour with my friend who had AT&T issues upgrading her current iPhone, and in that time, despite over a dozen Apple employees helping customers, they only moved a few people through the line.

Last year's process was so simple; walk into the store, say how many phones you want, pay, and leave. Yes, you had potential for iTunes activation issues, but at least you were home, comfortable, doing what you do, instead of standing hostage (just semantics folks, don't respond to that, I know no one made people stand in line) to the check out process and AT&T credit approval. They should have done the same thing this year, but obviously AT&T wouldn't go for that.

[ukmacuser]

Unfortunately, to those trying to deflect blame from Apple by blaming the issue on the lack of patience by the Mac fanboys and saying the delay was only a few hours, you can't really use those excuses when it comes to the Mobileme shambles at the end of last week.

You can't not use the service for a day just to help Apple with the roll-out, and therefore people forking out good money for a service they might seriously rely on were screwed for up to three days (things started going wrong during the Thursday roll-out and something approaching normal service re-appeared on Saturday).

It's not like they had many platforms to support - the service doesn't even seem to work with Linux anymore.

[hypnotoad]

Hey Philip - You're missing the word "of" in the first sentence of your article.

[outdo13]

We who are criticizing Apple for the early launch process are simply holding Steve Jobs and his Executive Staff to the same high standards of excellence that Steve presumably holds his employees. The mistake was that it was avoidable. The concern is that this isn't the first time such mistakes have occurred. The worry is that Apple is starting to get arrogant about its success and forgetting that continuous care and feeding of its customers is expected and necessary in order for that success to continue, regardless of the products being developed.

Good article, Philip.

[Kachadurian]

The real story is the role of ATT in all of this.

From the outside we will never know if apple was driving it or if it was a flaw at ATT, but the ATT stores were second class citizens, and really come out smelling the worst in all of this.

I live 200 miles from the nearest apple store but there are 3 ATT stores here. The had only a handful of phones and were out by 10 a.m. on Friday and still don't have stock. The Staff were in a cloud. Unable to answer any questions or even activate new accounts that were not iPhone accounts, even though they didn't have iPhones. For all intents and purposes the ATT stores were out of business by noon on Friday and have pretty much been that way since.

1. They have no iPhones.
2. The have no information available on when iPhones will be in stock
3. They are not answering their phones
4. The have no information of any kind available on their website except for the old "get iReady" message from last week.

The fact is if you buy an iPhone Apple gets your $200-$300 today, but you enter into a two year relationship with ATT.

In the last few days ATT doesn't look like a company that you want to do business with.

For the launch of a new product they have stopped communication with their customers. What would they do with a major outage?

[Philip Michaels]

hypnotoad said:

Hey Philip - You're missing the word "of" in the first sentence of your article.

I decline to comment on any missing prepositions.

Privately, however, sources close to me say that they are aware of the missing "of" and have corrected it.

[spinoza2]

distortedloop: You make some good points, and I especially agree about not criticizing early adopters. I consider myself one for some things, including the iPhone, but where I have problems is when early adopters complain about the expected downsides of early adopting. I'm very aware that a highly anticipated release of a product is going to cause log jams and initial problems; I'm also aware that first releases will have some bugs. When I decide to jump into the 'mosh pit', then I've accepted the potential inconveniences and am willing to put up with them. Just like a Stones concert, you know when you go it's going to be loud, raunchy, with lots of crazy people. For the folks who rushed to their Apple Store on iPhone release day, it's like their going to a Stones concert and complaining, ”Hey, I didn't know they were going to play loud music, wow, that hurts my ears!“ If there is anyone to blame, it's California for being so over-populated and congested.

As far as MobileMe is concerned, as a long-time .mac user I experienced only minor problems during the transition. I had IMAP email the whole time, with some brief interruptions I had access to iDisk, and even my Web site was largely accessible during the transition. The only hiccup I noticed was that I couldn't Publish using iWeb for a few hours. All in all this transition was much less painful than the several-hour service interruptions I've had with Comcast, corporate IT departments, and other service providers.

[nyip11]

Oh wake up, people, this is the way it ought to be done, and will likely continue to be done in future. If you think Apple or AT&T owes you a neat, predictable, smooth, and efficient purchase experience, you're dreaming. The whole point is to whip up frenzy and hysteria for the product launch. How can you have frenzy and hysteria if everything is smooth and efficient?

Next time, Apple will promise major improvements, but, to avoid disappointment, line up early, as in a week or two before launch. Nothing gives them better publicity than having block-long lines days and weeks before launch day. People in the line will party and do crazy things to while away the time, and all the news media will go filming and interviewing those people. You can't choreograph better advertising or marketing even if you tried.

In a way, this is more like selling rock concert tickets than a phone. When has any rock concert worth its (rock) salt been smooth and efficient? Part of the experience is the hysteria. If you want smooth and efficient, then buying on launch day is not for you, just as rock concerts are not for you.

[gsiddall1]

I too would like to see an apology from Mr. Jobs himself. I stayed out of the mess on Friday but watched from the sidelines. I am now trying to buy one and all of the stores in Colorado are out. Apple and AT&T stores alike. I was able to place an order for one at the AT&T store though.

Before Apple brags about how many phones they sold they should concentrate on filling orders and keeping customers happy.

[Markis224]

First off, maybe Apple's response IS through the employees at the Apple retail stores and AT&T stores since these are the only places you can buy the iPhone in the US.

I agree that it was pretty crazy for Apple to release the 2.0 software, the App Store, and the iPhone all on the same day given that everything had to go through the iTunes software / servers. Maybe Apple should use iSync again so that iTunes doen't have to do all the work so it doesn't conflict with other non-iPhone users (iTunes music, TV shows, movies). Even Mail might be a more appropriate software to sync the iPhone.

Other than customer support questions, MobileMe shouldn't have affected anything for the iPhone and related items launch.

Of course, if most Apple's customers didn't try to get the stuff on the first day, this wouldn't have been an issue. I for one knew that it would be crazy the first day and waiting until Apple irons out the bugs.

[MojaveNC]

digg.com/apple/CustomerServiceTryCorporateService

[msm859]

Totally agree! I was down in LA this weekend wanting to buy a phone for my son's birthday. No AT&T store had them. The Apple store in Manhattan Beach had them, but it was a 4 + hour wait. Why couldn't Apple have distributed the supply better? Or why not allow people to buy them at the Apple store and have them pick it up at a local AT&T store to activate it. This is GROSS inefficiency caused by pure corporate greed -- very Microsoftesq.