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iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Wreaking Havoc On Apple Store
theappwhisperer was one of a surprisingly large number of people writing in this morning to report that the Apple store is having serious troubles taking pre-orders of the new iPhone 4. People are seeing the error page or just waiting an insanely long time to get pages back. Just imagine trying to do this from an iPhone in a major market!
In other related news, there is now an Apple Store App in the Apple App Store.
Yo dawg.
If everyone can just turn off your web browsers. I've got all day.
Everyone knows this "delay" is a feature not a negative. It was designed in the best interest of consumers, to give them extra time to think, "Do I really want to spend a couple hundred dollars, or should I pay my rent?" It's like a waiting period.
(I'm just joking of course - though I better say it, else someone might mark me "troll" - it's funny.)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Reports are coming in of Slashdot being flooded with iPhone 4 stories, wreaking havoc with the front page, with people having to skip over an insane number of Apple stories to read something else. Just imagine trying to read this from an iPhone! The demand for the stories surpasses even that of three months of iPad stories, that were necessary before it finally shipped, and makes the traditional "daily iPhone story" seem infrequent in comparison.
Evo looks sweet to me, and it's getting some good reviews.
Lots of people seem to be fed up with Jobs "walled garden" - crappy iTunes has to be used for everything, no SD card or USB ports, no flash.
AT&T network is getting slammed all over the place - slow, unreliable, and insecure.
I wonder how many sales Apple would make from this. I'd imagine an article posted in /. would bring worthy leads.
When was the last time someone waited in line for a Microsoft product?
15 years ago? Yeah that's about right.
-- BMO
When was the last time Microsoft had a product worth waiting in line for? 15 years ago? Yeah that's about right. ;-)
Okay, Billy. Time for your meds.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
people will spend spend spend on selfish desires but are against spending the same on their own welfare all the while complaining the rich have too much money. I know people spend themselves into a ditch paying for new gadgets and monthly fees and then turn around and bitch about how much money other people have.
Consumerism at its worst, they "deserve" to have what they want regardless of ability.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
not like Android phones are any cheaper. the top of the line Droid and Evo's go for $199 with 8GB storage. iPhone comes in 16GB and 32GB. by the time you buy a SD card it's more than an iphone
On paper it does actually have pretty decent specs - Seems to be a tad better than my N900, though the environment is too closed for my liking. I prefer the Meego / Maemo stuff better myself.
I got the same message on the AT&T site after the keynote when people were checking to see if they qualified for the upgrade. Somebody should tell them that message makes them look incompetent; I mean, it's one thing to have a server go down under extremely heavy load. But it would be far stupider to choose such a peak time for scheduled maintenance. Just say "Sor
No No NO! I said to host a web site for the iPhone4; not on an iPhone4!
</jobs_voice="off">
Question: What would Steve Jobs call a web site where you can negotiate the best price for an iPhone4?
Answer: iDeal!
Steve, the turtlenecked one: "Web minion! The weak fools we call 'customers' will endure any delay for our superior products, and the media interprets server slowness as a sign of overwhelming demand. Make it so!"
..."
Web minion: *starts iTunes on the Xserve handling orders, the beachball starts spinning*
Steve, the turtlenecked one: "No, you fool! I don't want a slight increase in ping times, I want interminable delays, I want pages that have to be refreshed a dozen times, I want those pitiful insects to beg for our order confirmation screen. Take any measures necessary."
Web minion: "Master, surely you don't mean?"
Steve, the turtlenecked one: "Yes. Load a Flash Applet
Brittish is the Ammerican spelling.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Google's Could
Is that a cross between a cloud and a cult? Or is that just the name of a band?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Actually, no. A quick search on Pricewatch reveals that 32GB SD cards are going for about $85 on the street. That puts a 32GB Evo at just under the $299 Apple wants for a 32GB iPhone 4. However, since I get to keep the 8GB that comes with the Evo, that means I get an Evo with 40GB of storage for a little less than a iPhone 4 with 32GB.
My blog
I know that it's fashionable to make fun of AT&T. I don't like carrier-exclusive agreements either - I think that they're anti-consumer and shouldn't be allowed. However, AT&T's network is actually the best in most markets as shown in independent tests by Gizmodo, PC World, and PC Magazine.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364263,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/article/189592/atandt_roars_back_in_pcworlds_second_3g_wireless_performance_test.html
http://gizmodo.com/5428343/our-2009-12+city-3g-data-mega-test-att-won
The most recent test (PC Magazine) shows AT&T nearly 80% faster than the other 3G networks (June 2010). PC World's tests show AT&T to be 67% faster than the competition (Feb 2010). Gizmodo's tests show AT&T on top, but by a smaller margin (Dec 2009). PC World's tests do show that AT&T has improved markedly since their Feb 2009 tests (improving speeds by over 200% in some places). By the end of 2009, AT&T's network was the fastest and it's kept improving to widen the gap. Even in so-called trouble markets like New York and San Francisco AT&T is doing well. In San Francisco, their speeds are double the competition's average and over 75% faster than the second fastest. In New York, T-Mobile's HSPA+ network (recently rolled out) is 10% faster, but AT&T is still 94% faster than Verizon and 130% faster than Sprint.
It's fashionable to make fun of AT&T. If you live in a rural area, AT&T might not have 3G service to you. If you were using AT&T in 2007 and 2008, their service was likely slower than the competition. That is not the case anymore. Real data (rather than anecdotal evidence) shows AT&T to be quite ahead of the competition when it comes to 3G capacity in major markets.
Agreed. Look I own apple products (including an MBP), but really, WHO CARES IF THE PRE-ORDER IS BROKEN FOR A BIT?! It's not like your going to get it any later if you don't get your pre-order in right now, because no one else is getting in the line either. This isn't news, and OP's run on sentence is really how slashdot reads some times. "Filter out apple stories" you say? But then there is a slim chance I'll miss some real news.
It's not news, it's just a reminder that there's a new Apple gadget for sale and people should head over and spend, spend, spend. It's spam.
Slashdot should is an attack site.
I accidentally the app store.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I think AT&T is the main problem, not Apple. But what ticks me off is this happened LAST TIME, when they rolled out the 3G. Do their network people not plan ahead for such things? What's IS Apple's fault, though, is the fact that I have to keep re-entering my cell phone account information (cell #, billing zip, and last 4 of SSN) EVERY SINGLE TIME. The Apple page ought to be smart enough to queue that information and let the computers keep trying AT&T, then getting back to me once it finally has the information from the AT&T servers it needs for me to tell it what plan I want to select, etc. Seriously, it would have been nice if you could have pre-applied for the pre-application, so that they could have selected a much smaller database which could handle the load, and Apple could have already had on their servers the data they need about my account to process my freaking order.
I remember a few years ago when people were lined up at Best Buy, Circuit City, and EB Games to get the XBox 360. Sony and Nintendo had similar results with their game consoles.
I don't think waiting in line to be the first to get one is limited to Apple products.
Here's a news flash. People wait in line to purchase a book (eg. Harry Potter, Twilight, etc) and to be the first to see a movie (eg. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings).
Waiting in line is not always a bad thing. I waiting in line with my daughter at every Harry Potter book release. It always came out near her birthday and it was fun to speak to other fans of the book. Now that she is grown, I look back fondly to the experience. Especially when she was waiting in line to read a book.
I've waiting in line for WoW Burning Crusades because I had nothing else to do and the EB Games was next door to where I was staying overnight on work travel. However, I usually wait until the next day or so because... well... its a game and there are plenty of copies.
Anyway, people will wait in line for anything these days and I don't see it as a bad thing - in fact we need more. Why? Anything that will get people out of their basements and socialize with other people in person can't be all bad.
Humans are funny.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
See, a lot of the Slashdot crowd has chosen not to interact with real people due to a myriad of insecurities hidden by a superiority complex. This presents itself worst when they start to pant and whine about other people mentioning situations in which one is in forced proximity with other people with whom you may have to "socially interact". Mentioning any sort of situation like this causes bouts of anxiety fueled nerdrage in which the perceived aggressor is mocked and jeered through choked back tears of bitter, vitriol-fueled anguish on a playing field sympathetic to such unrealistic and unhealthy views (Slashdot).
Oh, its great when you have a solid 3G signal, but even in downtown Chicago that can be a problem. Toss in all the dropped calls and its really not as great as those links suggest. Essentially, those tests, if memory serves, are just data speed tests. I don't think they were done in random spots, but where 3G worked and where they had a solid signal.
I'm in a similar boat now with Sprint's 4G service. Spotty reception, but crazy speeds. I just rooted my EVO, enabled wireless tethering, and with one bar of 4G I got 2.3mbps. With 2-3bars I get 3-4mbps.
Right now saying "We're the best 3G" is a little like saying "We're the best horse and buggy company." When is LTE coming out? 2012? If you aren't doing 4G upgrades now then you've already falled behind.
I assume quite a lot of people here are feeling guilty about supporting Apple so much in the past, when it is now clear that they are even more closed than Microsoft.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Not that long ago. The Windows 7 preorder volume was rather crazy. Except that you had dozens over dozens of resellers to choose from. Sure, Amazon didn't run out of stock, but a lot of smaller resellers did.
There's no reason to line-up for software anymore. Hardware yes, and while Microsoft does make a few hardware things, its hardly their primary business line. Then again, people DID lineup for the 360.
Oh look, another hater who is too stupid to understand why people love Apple products and who misrepresents past Apple headlines. . .
Okay, please tell me exactly what is so much better about Apple products? I've used various technologies over the years and Apple's products are good but I can't really see this "massive" benefit everyone talks about.
As for shininess my new Toshiba looks just as sexy as any Mac (actually it gets more comments from people in the office over any Mac). Just about anything brand new these days if you spend the same amount of money as you would on an Apple product usually looks just as physically good. Feature wise Apple products have always had less features with the express philosophy that the features they bring to the table are more refined. Now, If you went back 10 years granted Apple was quite original but now the more technology grows Apple goes down the same vein as it's competitors and the more they become alike. The software, well okay it runs UNIX and to me this is always good but to say that Windows 7 is a poor operating system as much as it pains me to say it Microsoft has got it right for a change. My Toshiba laptop with touchscreen (pen also) works really well, my laptop has never been slow and it does everything the top of a line Apple does and just as seamlessly (in many cases much better).
It took me until the last 3 months to go out and get myself an iPhone. When I was first exposed to them I thought some of the things it brought to the table were good but it wasn't until I needed a new phone did I actually make the decision to get one. I think that's how a lot of people shop when it comes to phones because I don't see people regularly spending a marginal amount of money on something as "unimportant" to their daily lives as phone handset (it's really a luxury item). Unless the company you work for opts up to buy you a new phone the only real time the average person purchases a new phone is when their plan is up and the chance to grab a current handset is offered too them.
Their uniqueness put them this far ahead of their competitors but I don't think they are that unique anymore as the speed of which competing Tablet's are being created and released into the market is a fine example of this as we are expected to see nearly 50 brands of Tablets hit the market within the next 6 months. If anything its simply brand awareness now and I think that's why they keep at it with all this hype. They are sticking to what works well to sell their products and not really about the quality of the product because Apple knows how prominent they are and they know all too well which one they have to push. It's "product quality" vs "marketability" and I think marketability is now cheaper for them and easier.
According to PC World, AT&T's 3G service improved in Boston by 184% (nearly doubling) between Feb 2009 and Feb 2010.
Public perception is one of those things that doesn't change quickly (no matter what the evidence). I know that a lot of people had billing issues after the Sprint-Nextel merger and that's been resolved and Sprint's service is as strong as I've seen it, but customers still have a bad impression of Sprint.
With wireless service, it's hard to really get good data. Verizon is trying to get people's opinions to be high of them based off of their map ads. However, what you really wants is strong coverage where you are rather than weak yet broad coverage in places you aren't. Coverage isn't a binary situation, but mapping broadness of coverage seems to be what people have latched on to. It would be great to see signal strength and speed measurements on a street level of all the different carriers. It would be great if Google could hook up 4 cell phones to their street view cars to measure that (if they aren't already) and then map the signal strength on Google Maps. I'm sure the carriers would object to such neutral data since they'd rather sling ads at each other, but consumers make better purchases when they have more objective data.
Speed is also harder to quantify since you likely don't notice it without the use of tools. It's easy to notice the binary condition of "AT&T doesn't have 3G in rural Maine", but harder to notice, "AT&T is 39% faster than Verizon in Boston". For what it's worth, Boston seems to be one of AT&T's weaker markets (with Sprint taking top honors in PC Mag's test; yay!) and only beating Verizon and T-Mobile in the 40-50% range.
The problem is that people want to believe that one option is better. There is one wireless carrier that if I always stay with them will give me the best service. There is one brand of car that will always have better engineering. There is one phone company that will always produce a superior product. A lot of the time, product lifecycles make a huge difference. People like being consistent - think how Kerry was labeled a flip-flopper. There's a huge social cost to saying that now you think something else is a better option and almost no acknowledgement that someone could be right *both times* even as they're recommending different things at different times. People don't accept that change happens.
Think of the iPhone 3GS. When it came out, it was faster, had a better display, etc. than the Palm Pre and later the Hero/Droid Eris. Then the Nexus One/Incredible/EVO came out and they had a higher-res display and a faster processor. Then Apple comes back with the iPhone 4 which has an even better display, better form factor, etc. Companies are often leapfrogging each other, but people want to believe that they're always using the best so they justify, ignore evidence, and even downright lie to make themselves feel like they're never on #2. I mean, Sprint has 4G right now, but I don't expect Sprint to always be in front of everyone just because they're the first to 4G - life is more complicated than that and companies change position in an industry a lot.
As a Sprint customer, I'm more than happy with the service I get and really can't get into the "my network is better than your's" that Verizon and AT&T customers spout. Verizon customers are especially bad and will usually recite ads more than evidence. It's why I find evidence so important. In this case, if someone has a less-good wireless carrier, who cares. I mean, really. However, evidence is what brought medicine to where it is today and non-evidence-based medicine is often dangerous. Yet, millions of people commit themselves to opinions and treatments with no basis in science and evidence. That's dangerous! Here, whatever: people like getting into silly arguments about things that don't matter. However, it's a bad habit to get into to rely more on anecdotes and feelings than evidence because there are places where it really does matter.
We recently left AT&T for Verizon. AT&T's speed was fine, it was the number of dropped calls that finally made us switch. I'm speaking specifically about the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas. In those areas, AT&T's data transfer rates were perfectly fine on 3G. So is Verizon. With AT&T we couldn't stay on a phone call for more than 10 minutes without getting dropped. When we disabled 3G, we never had a dropped call. The AT&T network is completely overloaded in those areas and has progressively gotten worse. The iPhone 4 will only bog things down more. The majority of my coworkers are experiencing the same issues, and it's been this way for a good 6-8 months.
EVERY Apple product release in recent memory is accompanied by a press release claiming they just can't keep up with demand. Ohmygosh, it's like, everybody is getting one!! If you don't, you'll be the only one!!!