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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."
Honestly, I don't know WHAT THE F happened. Jobs himself said when announcing the iphone release date that those wishing to buy it should "go to an AT&T store.." there were questions about whether Apple would sell it at all on launch date. Then in the days before the release, I saw a lot of talk on the 'net about people lining up at Apple stores, and ZERO people lining up at AT&T.
As some who saw my posts 3 days ago may have noted, i was very excited for the release of the iphone, and i bought four of them. However, this was GROSSLY mishandled by Apple not making it patently clear that Jobs had misspoke (or whatever) earlier. My plan to go to the AT&T owned local store was thwarted when one of our guys went down there (I was in meetings all day) check the line, then reported to me that he was told the store didn't have ANY iPhones at all, but was giving out "vouchers."
By this time the local Apple store was a madhouse. I'd dropped in around noon on my way to a meeting, and it had around 150 people in line (this is a not-so-very-well-known one, inside a crappy mall). By the time I got out of meetings and adjusted the buying plan, it was almost 8. The store ran out with around 200 people still ahead of me in line.
I got up this morning at 8am, and went to the store when it opened. I was the 42nd through the door, and bought 4 of the remaining 18 4GB phones (the 8GBs were all gone). Everyone behind me in line was told a shipment would arrive "later today sometime" and they could wait. No one got out of line and left.
Now that I have the iPhone, i'm as impressed as I hoped i'd be (and glad I bought three more for my colleagues), although it certainly could use some minor software updates (minor tweaks to the UI.. adding of buttons, landscape mode for the keyboard in other than Safari, etc).. but the pinch/stretch zoom, animations, etc are all phenomenal. The phone is very impressive, but does give a few feels of "beta," and the fact that some of the software even between our 4 phones is different suggests to the phones are still "development build" and several major revisions will be pushed through itunes software updates.
Overall, I am very pleased with the phone.. and less than pleased with Apple's management of the whole thing (I mean, it's their reputation here.. not AT&T's.. if anything I feel bad for AT&T, as it seems they may have been screwed out of phones originally due them so that the Apple stores could garner some publicity)
I will also say that the Apple store employees were applauding for us as we entered the store this morning. Really people.. APPLAUSE? WTF. It's a fricking phone, I'm not shaving my head for charity or doing something noble... I'm an American jackass spending $2k on phones because they can play H.264, have a nice UI, and won't crash, LOL. Also, for what it's worth, T-mobile has had my monthly payments for 3yrs now, and I *NEVER* have service (and I live in a major, populated, affluent part of Los Angeles). My treo/blackberry constantly say "no service" in my house. Today I have 5bars on my iPhone. Now, maybe this is just luck of the draw, and i'll have crappy reception in place that t-mobile rocked, but so far, I have zero regrets.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
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.
Um, clearly you have no idea how the whole release worked. There was ZERO activation in the stores; everything is done through iTunes. The only thing that was performed (and it was optional--could also be done online) was a credit check that all mobile providers conduct.
So precisely how can the AT&T 'monkeys' panic over activation?
I'm not sure what market everyone else was in, but in my small Tennessee town, it couldn't have been a smoother purchase. I walked into the AT&T store Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm, they had 4 8gb, 4 4gb iPhones in-stock. I needed to transfer my number form my dad's account (I've been paying the bill for the last 2 years) and possibly pay a deposit for a new contract under my name with my old number. It took me about 15 minutes on the phone with a transfer rep. and less than 5 minutes to confirm everything was correct (with no deposit) to get in and out. Got home, activated the phone in about 5 minutes; everything works perfectly with my new awesome phone. They couldn't have been more helpful at the AT&T store; looks like a case of YMMV.
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.
But I'm too busy waiting in line for Transformers.
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
I call bullshit. Nintendo never had a widely popular console until the mid 80's and for that matter, the Nintendo 64 wasn't sold until 1996. I can't take you seriously until you get your facts straight.
This is slashdot and the facts are important, Sir!
This is why Apple succeeds where others fail - they don't name their products "FIC Neo1973".
I had a similar bad experience with AT&T and good experience with Apple:
Executive summary
- AT&T Mgr. refused to give basic information (do you have enough iPhones for all 20 people in line?)
- AT&T Mgr. lied about availability (iPhones are sold out all through the city)
- AT&T Mgr. intentionally tries to hide Apple Store availability to get more sales for his store.
- AT&T screwed up the order for the first guy in line, who had been waiting for hours. By the time he realized they gave him a 4GB phone, there were no 8GB units left.
- Apple store had many iPhones. Completed quick, easy, efficient transaction.
The long version:
I wasn't about to wait in lines for more than 15-30 minutes, but I headed up to the closest AT&T/Cingular store which was in an area I thought might not get a lot of traffic (Kalamazoo Rd & Hwy 6, Grand Rapids, MI). There were about 20 people waiting in line at 5:55PM, so I joined in.
The AT&T rep came out and asked for a show of hands on how many people wanted 4GB vs 8GB. Almost everyone wanted 8GB, and by his grimace I saw that was going to be a problem. I asked him how many phones they had, and he said "I can't tell you that". I persisted, asking if it was worth while for those of us near the end to wait. He said "if we run out, we can process the order and direct ship to your home". So, now his intention was obvious.. keep as many people there as possible, and try to get more sales even after running out of phones. There were 4 or 5 employees, but for some reason they only allowed two people to enter the store at a time, and the transactions seemed to take forever.
Against my better judgment, I stayed in line. About 45 minutes later, they had slowly processed 10-15 people ahead of me. One of the earlier people came out and said they had run out. Shortly after that, the first guy in line returned. He had bought an 8GB iPhone and later found that they had given him a 4GB unit. Now all the 8GB units were gone.. The manager came out and asked if anyone in the line was paying cash and wanted a 4GB unit. One guy jumped at this, and they took his money, gave it to the first guy, and gave the cash guy the iPhone. Kinda shady to avoid a return..
The AT&T people said that no other stores in the city had iPhones left. (I had already tried to call the Apple store to see their status, but couldn't get through.) And they said they would do free next day shipping, and claimed that ordering in the store would be faster than online. I am in Eastern time zone, and I thought the online purchases might be closed until 6PM Pacific. So, I went ahead and ordered it there. The guy taking my order seemed like he had never used the sales system before, and it took 5+ minutes to complete my sale.
Shortly before I got in the AT&T store, some guy walked up and asked why we (the four remaining laggards) were waiting in line. He said "there's no lines at the Apple store at the mall, and they have plenty left". We had all seen coverage of the campers at the Apple store on last night's news, so we thought he was messing with us, or trying to get us to give up our spots in line.
On the off chance he was telling the truth, I drove over to the mall. There were a lot of people milling around the store, fondling the iPhones on display. I asked an employee if they had any left, and he pointed to the rows of iPhone bags behind the genius desk and registers.. there were over a hundred there on the floor. I picked up an 8GB iPhone, the Apple employees were plentiful, helpful, and efficient. The purchase took all of 40 seconds. Ithen zipped back over to the AT&T store to void my earlier transaction.
They voided my iPhone order without argument (I was a bit surprised at that). I explained to the manager that he was incorrect when he told me that there were no more iPhones in the city, and told him of the hundreds at the Apple store. He quickly called another AT&T store and began comparing notes with someone there.
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me