Apple iPhone

[RIOT]

I have been waiting for this Gen2 since last years launch. Like most Mac addicts out there know, you never bite at the first bait.

 

[scotrace]

So I was in line at my local AT&T at 7:50AM.

The person from AT&T emerged at 8:00AM.

They had a grand total of FIFTEEN iPhone 3g in stock.

FIVE of those were 16G models.

ALL FIVE 16G models went to the FIRST FIVE in line.

I was in line at position 14.

All iPhones on hand were spoken for within the first 1.5 minutes after 8:00AM.

I was offered the option of ordering mine from a "regional warehouse" for delivery within 7 days. OK, sure. Whatever. Seems like a better gamble than taking my chances on restocking at 15 phones at a time for heaven knows how long.

1.5 hours later, I got inside the store.

The line was stalled by a young woman and her amok-running two children, while she endlessly debated which plan to get. Also by two corporate buyers, because the crack staff at the AT&T store had no clue how to set them up; they were allowed to walk, after messing around with them for an hour.

The entire AT&T activation/ordering network crashed dead as Julius Caesar by 8:20AM. The person who took my cell #, information and CC number at 10:40AM said I would hear from her "soon," and should have my phone within "2 weeks or more."

Given that pre-orders in the UK hit 8K per SECOND last week, swamping servers and locking them up, , one would think AT&T would have made some kind of actual effort to deal with the load of customers who were waving their money to spend, rather than post useless information on their website, which included instructions to visit an AT&T store prior to July 11, 2008, to get pre-screened and approved and set up for a shorter line experience on the morning of July 11, 2008. All of the people in line this morning (including me) who tried to do that this week were told "We don't know nothin' about nothin' like 'at."

In short, AT&T is just as clumsy a dinosaur as they were a year ago, and learned squat from the experience of screwing up the original iPhone launch in 2007.



How easily these matters could be resolved were I only given plenipotentiary power. - William F. Buckley, Jr.

(Update: AT&T rep just called, my phone is in the order channel and should be here "7-10 business days.")

 

[ShortClara]

Scottrace, that is just awful! I'm sorry for your rotten experience. I'm crossing my fingers for my hubby, who is in line right now. I hope he gets one, because then I get his original iPhone! W00T!

 

[Chanfan]

Apple is reminding me of Disney in many ways, as company that I both love and hate.

On the one hand I love my iPod. I want to replace it with an iPhone. I like Apples general design aesthetic and innovation. I like Macs, I've used them since the first ones, when I ran a lab full of them at my college.

On the other hand, being a large corporation, they do things that large corporations tend to do - things I find obnoxious, that are not for the benefit of the consumer. I hate that the #$%&* iTunes/Quicktime update keeps trying to install Safari on me. I don't like the AppleTax. I hate that you have to jailbreak your iPhone at all (assuming you want to).

I'm still planning on getting one eventually, but I keep putting it off…

 

[RIOT]

Hmm.. Maybe I should wait another week or two

 

[Feraud]

I have seen better organization and product supply from crack dealers.

 

[Foofoogal]

"We don't know nothin' about nothin' like 'at."

I find the majority of salesmen in these places are the same.
They need to bring back commission sales like they used to have in stores. [huh]

 

[jamespowers]

So I was in line at my local AT&T at 7:50AM.

The person from AT&T emerged at 8:00AM.

They had a grand total of FIFTEEN iPhone 3g in stock.

FIVE of those were 16G models.

ALL FIVE 16G models went to the FIRST FIVE in line.

I was in line at position 14.

All iPhones on hand were spoken for within the first 1.5 minutes after 8:00AM.

I was offered the option of ordering mine from a "regional warehouse" for delivery within 7 days. OK, sure. Whatever. Seems like a better gamble than taking my chances on restocking at 15 phones at a time for heaven knows how long.

1.5 hours later, I got inside the store.

The line was stalled by a young woman and her amok-running two children, while she endlessly debated which plan to get. Also by two corporate buyers, because the crack staff at the AT&T store had no clue how to set them up; they were allowed to walk, after messing around with them for an hour.

The entire AT&T activation/ordering network crashed dead as Julius Caesar by 8:20AM. The person who took my cell #, information and CC number at 10:40AM said I would hear from her "soon," and should have my phone within "2 weeks or more."

Given that pre-orders in the UK hit 8K per SECOND last week, swamping servers and locking them up, , one would think AT&T would have made some kind of actual effort to deal with the load of customers who were waving their money to spend, rather than post useless information on their website, which included instructions to visit an AT&T store prior to July 11, 2008, to get pre-screened and approved and set up for a shorter line experience on the morning of July 11, 2008. All of the people in line this morning (including me) who tried to do that this week were told "We don't know nothin' about nothin' like 'at."

In short, AT&T is just as clumsy a dinosaur as they were a year ago, and learned squat from the experience of screwing up the original iPhone launch in 2007.



How easily these matters could be resolved were I only given plenipotentiary power." - William F. Buckley, Jr.

(Update: AT&T rep just called, my phone is in the order channel and should be here "7-10 business days.")

Sounds like you are not alone:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25637854/wid/11915829?GT1=40006

I'll keep what I have until they get all the bugs worked out----in about six months. :eusa_doh:

 

[Twitch]

Ya know if I was youze guys I'd really be ticked off with Apple's whole crappy marketing scheme.

First- Hey we got this really cool phone combo thingy you gotta have! Yeah its really expensive but hey it's Apple.

OK it wasn't quite as cool as we hoped. Sorry you had to wait in line like losers waiting for a Star ars flick.

All right we got it for sure now! It'll cost half of what the 1st one cost too. Well yeah if you amortize the 2 of them is sky high but it's Apple, you know cool daddy-o.

OK there's been some unforseen problems and the price to access everything on a daily basis is obscene but THIS is the one! It's on $200. Sure we know know we're into you for about a grand now but its such a cool phone thingy right?

PS. Don't get mad when the I Phoney is free next year with a service contract.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Not sure that anyone kidnapped and forced a single person to get in line to get one......


viva la capitalism.......create stuff people want...they buy it....no one -forces- them to buy it....just like -every- new technology since the dawn of time...

trust me...the first machine made sweaters....well no one -had- to buy those instead of knit their own.....

 

[jamespowers]

Ya know if I was youze guys I'd really be ticked off with Apple's whole crappy marketing scheme.

First- Hey we got this really cool phone combo thingy you gotta have! Yeah its really expensive but hey it's Apple.

OK it wasn't quite as cool as we hoped. Sorry you had to wait in line like losers waiting for a Star ars flick.

All right we got it for sure now! It'll cost half of what the 1st one cost too. Well yeah if you amortize the 2 of them is sky high but it's Apple, you know cool daddy-o.

OK there's been some unforseen problems and the price to access everything on a daily basis is obscene but THIS is the one! It's on $200. Sure we know know we're into you for about a grand now but its such a cool phone thingy right?

PS. Don't get mad when the I Phoney is free next year with a service contract.

That sounds like the old vintage term bait and switch. I see it is still alive and kicking the gullible.

 

[Lady Day]

This sounds like an ATT problem as far as the phone set up and stuff, not Apple. Sure, Apple could have phones actually in stock (duh :eusa_doh: ), but once they are purchased, you need ATT to activate the thing, and most problems seem to stem from that corner of the process. Crashing network, no prep for phone activation demand...

Yeah, same old ATT.


LD

 

[ShortClara]

Well, after two hours the morning the hubs gave up. Once I take his old one tonight he's really up the crik, isn't he?

 

[scotrace]

Well, after two hours the morning the hubs gave up. Once I take his old one tonight he's really up the crik, isn't he?

Bwuahahahaha!!! Too fun!! lol

 

[Mike in Seattle]

AND...the price of the 2 user family plan we currently have exactly doubles in price if we switch to iPhones. We decided when they announced that week before last - thanks but no thanks!

 

[jamespowers]

AND...the price of the 2 user family plan we currently have exactly doubles in price if we switch to iPhones. We decided when they announced that week before last - thanks but no thanks!

Oh come one. Join in on the inane fun.

 

[Salv]

I've bought one for my wife for her birthday later this month. The UK distributors - O2 and Carphone Warhouse - had them for pre-order on their websites on Monday. I wanted to make sure she actually wanted one before I ordered it so I waited until I got home from work, by which time they had both sold out of pre-order stock. I checked again on Thursday morning and O2 were still out of stock but Carphone Warehouse had some more. At about 11:00 am on Thursday I ordered a 8GB on the £35 per month tariff, and it arrived at 11:20 on Friday morning.

Apparently buyers at the launch at the Apple Store in Regent Street in central London weren't able to activate their new phones as this has to be done over the internet via the O2 website. Some genius (or just plain lazy) web developer at O2 decided that the activation page should only work in Internet Explorer - naturally all of the Macs at the Apple Stores only run Safari...

Are AT&T offering free phones on any of their tariffs? The most expensive UK tariff (£75 per month) includes a free 8GB or 16GB phone, while the next one down (£45 per month) offers the 8GB free or the 16GB for just £99. If I can sell my iPod Touch I'll get a 16GB phone in about a month's time when all the excitement has died down.

 

[scotrace]

The cheapest you can get by with AT&T (as I understand it) is $199 + $69.95/mo, with texts an additional fee. That's for the 8G.

No free.

 

[scotrace]

So much for THAT little "show up first day" scheme. It seems that demand, though anticipated to be high, was far greater than even the bullish expected. Moral: Scott ain't got no iphone yet!

 

[InspectorMorse]

I absolutely love my iPhone! The apps are amazing..and it is so much more than just a phone! It reflects why Apple is so unique in all of their products. Fantastic!