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AT&T Vs. Apple Store At the iPhone Launch
MBCook tips an article at Gizmodo that begins with a reader's experiences trying to buy an iPhone yesterday at an AT&T store and an Apple store. Many, but not all, of the comments on the post echo this reader's experience: Apple good, AT&T bad. "Day one revealed what all Apple aficionados fear. That AT&T, through the depths of its incompetence, could derail the iPhone."
That AT&T, through the depths of its incompetence, could derail the iPhone.
It's not that they're incompetent. It's just that they don't care. They don't have to. They're the phone company.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Yeah, I too found the applause silly, but there were plenty of customers there that were getting into it, high fiving the staff on the way out the door and all.
Plus it helps build a festival atmosphere, which looks good for the reporters that are going to be there -- it just adds to the buzz for the next big release.
I just want to go in and to my business without the annoying hooplah, but I understand why they did it.
-30-
"Day one revealed what all Apple aficionados fear. That AT&T, through the depths of its incompetence, could derail the iPhone."
I am sorry, but what the hell is this supposed to mean? For one thing, this is day one of the damn phone being sold, and it is no surprise that the AT&T monkeys were in a panic trying to get the phones to activate on the spot. If it hadn't occurred to anyone, those who went to the Apple stores got their boxes and then left and activated the phone via iTunes. Those who went to AT&T had their phones activated in-store, thus causing slower activations and the incompetence that you expect from your mobile phone carriers.
Does anyone see the difference here now? The summary of this article is pure crap.
I bought mine at the Tyson's Corner (VA) Apple Store. They did the applauding and high-fiving there too. At first I thought it was a little bit cheesy, but it was FUN and it got everyone in a good mood. The staff at that store really (appear to) enjoy working there. Their excitement is contageous and gets the customer excited about being there. You just don't get that at other computer or phone stores. That's why I keep going back there.
Correction: you are an american jackass buying an apple 1.0 (meaning: it's unstable, as most apple 1.0 hardware/software).
People are already having problems with their mail program crashing.
You are an american jackass buying a beautiful, lusty phone, but that doesn't have lots of standard features people expect on phones, such as:
And even some of the features are badly implemented:
I am glad the phone won't be available ever in Venezuela. It is a pretty phone, the UI is mostly great, you have a great browser, but they could have made the phone better.
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
This is not troll, but doesn't it strike anyone else as fairly crazy that people are lining up for hours and planning entire days around buying something? It's not like this is an AIDS vaccine or the cure for cancer. I've never really understood the mentality of lining up outside the store or the theater in order to get something or see something at the earliest possible moment. Can someone please explain this whole phenomenon to me? It seems a lot like a drug user itching for a fix, or some equally unhealthy and unhinged obsession with instant gratification. I'm very open to being corrected on this, but it doesn't seem normal to me.
A-Bomb
"Day one revealed what all Apple aficionados fear. That AT&T, through the depths of its incompetence, could derail the iPhone."
This post is not intended as a flame or some kind of universal truth...just my own experiences and observations.
I have purchased 4 ipods thus far (2 for myself and 2 as gifts). I bought my mother a mac mini for her birthday. I think Apple is the most innovative company in consumer electronics right now. I have disposable income and I like spending my money on gizmos.
I live in Boston. I had Cingular / AT&T for four years and verizon for three. I had terrible reception and frequent dropped calls with Cingular and nearly none (in the same place) with Verizon.
Based on my personal experiences I'm going to wait until I can use the iphone with another carrier.
You guys can't bash Apple for this shit, though. A few huge corporations have a stranglehold on the cellular networks in this country, and they're more than willing to keep selling you the same service they've always been pushing as long as they possibly can. Apple had to cut a deal with one of the providers, and why would the market leaders push a product which will force them to offer new features, expand their network, and increase consumer expectations? Thus we get this Apple / AT&T deal.
Bottom line, iphone early adopters are going to have to suffer with a second-best carrier for six months to a year or so, at which point other companies (assuming the thing hasn't flopped) will start making the modifications to support the iphone's data-dependent features. Cell phone carriers that aren't leading the market won't change a thing unless they think it's going to gain them market share, and ones that are won't change a thing unless they're already losing it. It's just the way the game works.
>> Apple store employees were applauding for us as we entered the store this morning. Really people.. APPLAUSE? WTF. It's a fricking phone,
...spending $2k on [four] phones
they were applauding because you're...
>>
first, we have the early adopters that always pay a premium for what they want..
then there's the apple customers that always pay a premium for what they buy..
add the two together and you wonder why the employees of the company that just soaked you for 2 grand are applauding for.. you just paid one of their paychecks for the month!
$500-$600 (PLUS a two year contract! from, ahem, at&t..) for a friggin phone? no thanks. i'll take my freebies any day (have paid a total of $50 for the four phones i've had, dating back to the old analog "bricks"; those old phones still have all these fancy new ones beat as far as range goes)... a phone is a phone, that's all I need.
What's the rush?
I don't get the point of standing in a huge queue for something. Wait a couple of weeks and you'll be able to just walk into the shop and buy it without waiting, plus you get to find out whether the first version is worth buying at all.
This is why Apple succeeds where others fail - they don't name their products "FIC Neo1973".
I'm pretty sure my point still stands.
While all of you morons were waiting on long lines for your iBrick, I was out listening to non-DRMed MP3's that I just copied to the flash card in my A-707 w/o having to use some god-awful buggy and inefficient middleware app.
You mean iTunes?
I used iTunes as the music manager for my non-iPod MP3 player: it handles non-DRM-ed MP3s just fine, and smart playlists are a really neat tool for managing your MP3 player's storage... I'm sure that they prototyped the iPod shuffle's smart shuffle that way.
I'll agree that the iPhone is overrated and overpriced, but when I criticize Apple (or any other company) I'm doing it as someone who uses... or at least researches... the products first. Not from a position of sloganeering or ignorance.
But if people at the end of the line know that the store is out of iPhones, they might go somewhere else and the store employees would not get their commission. Their goal was to try and get people still in line after they ran out to place orders to get iPhones shipped to them (again, so they could get the commission). Someone familiar with Apple stores will have to confirm whether or not Apple store employees are on commission or not, but I would speculate that any difference in behavior could be attributed to them not getting commissions.
Salesmen on commission simply can never be counted on to act in the customer's interest in any way.
Free Software to the rescue. If that sucker takes a sim card and works with my provider and does ogg, I want it. iPhone is off the list.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Our society lacks enthusiasm in just about every area. Ennui rules, which is one reason why drug use continues to rise. I'd rather see people get pumped up over a new technology that just may make their lives easier and less stressful, and I'd rather see employees who actually are excited about their products than the completely bored losers slowly ambling towards me with my Big Mac and fries when I have a 30-minute lunch hour.
Why do you think Toyota is taking over as the world's biggest carmaker? Do you think maybe singing the company song each morning and doing some basic exercises to pump up employees makes a tiny bit of difference compared to the listless, overweight UAW workers slouching into GM plants?
I've worked at companies where the employees were enthusiastic, and we did great things. I've worked at companies where employees couldn't care less, and most of them are out of business.
Killjoy.
What was once true, is no longer so
Although I would have been a shade less rude to the man, I absolutely agree with your point that our society is tragically lacking in enthusiasm and verve and that Apple is a very nice exception to this rule.
Apple people love Apple. Of course being a company ran by humans and not saints, Apple is not perfect, but it's awfully good considering the alternatives.
In an amazingly joyless society, my only complaint is that I had to work on i-day and so I could not participate in the hoopla. I would have enjoyed it. And if you would not have, well, don't buy something like this on intro-day.
I will be purchasing my iPhone shortly but I went to visit it in the store yesterday. It really does live up to the hype. A very impressive device.
D