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."

Comments

and i quote

[User 956]

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.

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[Fahrenheit 450]

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.

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[bakura121]

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.

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[Espectr0]

I'm an American jackass spending $2k on phones because they can play H.264, have a nice UI, and won't crash, LOL.

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:

• No filesystem access: which means you can't download stuff with the browser, no attaching files in mail
• No flash or java in safari
• Crippled bluetooth: not even file transfer
• You can't use the phone as a modem
• No usb mass storage support

And even some of the features are badly implemented:

• No copy and paste
• No landscape mode outside safari
• No junk mail filter
• No IM
• No GPS, a bummer on google maps

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.

Not troll, I swear

[Bombula]

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.

Re:Not troll, I swear

[cowscows]

Sometimes people need something trivial to get excited about. Life isn't all peaches and cream for many people, and sometimes your goals in life seem way out of reach or way far into the future. It's nice to set yourself little manageable goals every now and then, and reward yourself with something nice occasionally. It can be comforting in a way to cheer for something/someone else, even if you have no official connection with them. It's very similar to how some people are hardcore hometown sports fans. It's a very common human thing to do, just now marketing departments are getting good at steering some of that enthusiasm away from stuff like professional sports and celebrities, and instead focusing it on companies and products.

Basically, it can be fun to be passionate about trivial things sometimes. Whether it's a football team, a rock band, a video game console, or a phone company, it lets you revel in some of the emotion and excitement that 8 hours of work and two hours of commuting each day doesn't let you use.

I agree

[Aurisor]

"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.

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[sdnoob]

>> Apple store employees were applauding for us as we entered the store this morning. Really people.. APPLAUSE? WTF. It's a fricking phone,

they were applauding because you're...

>> ...spending $2k on [four] phones

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.

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[DaleGlass]

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.

Re:iPhone VS OpenMoko

[Goaway]

This is why Apple succeeds where others fail - they don't name their products "FIC Neo1973".

Re:Apple ends up looking bad (er, less than great)

[Brickwall]

Oh, really, please blow it out your rectum. I remember buying my first Honda Civic in 1975 - every time I passed another one on the street, BOTH of us would honk horns and wave with big silly grins on our faces.

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.