It's the Apple fans that adore anything the companies does. Their comments sometimes are so blinded; Apple can do no wrong, Apple's perfect.
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AT&T Activation Delays for iPhone Buyers
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It's the Apple fans that adore anything the companies does. Their comments sometimes are so blinded; Apple can do no wrong, Apple's perfect.
Why forums are bad for your health
I've kept up with various forums since the launch and it's mostly been negative. So many posts about how Apple and at&t suck because of the activation. My gut feeling was that these people were in the minority and this article somewhat confirms that:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/tc_nm/apple_dc_1
Only 2% of an estimated 500k which is 1000. Just goes to show that you can't rely on anecdotal evidence to base purchasing decisions.
I've kept up with various forums since the launch and it's mostly been negative. So many posts about how Apple and at&t suck because of the activation. My gut feeling was that these people were in the minority and this article somewhat confirms that:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070702/tc_nm/apple_dc_1
Only 2% of an estimated 500k which is 1000. Just goes to show that you can't rely on anecdotal evidence to base purchasing decisions.
I was one of the 2% of iPhone customers who experienced "activation issues". I for one think that some of you should feel some sympathy. If you had waited hours in line and paid $600 plus tax, then come home to find that you couldn't use your iPhone for 36-48 hours... you'd be pissed off as well. For those 36-48, my iPhone was a lovely useless uber expensive paperweight. Sure, some issues are to be expected, but AT&T and Apple had ample time to upgrade their systems to ensure a smooth activation process. AT&T CS reps were claiming "that we weren't expecting this and our systems are currently overwhelmed"... BULL*****~! They had six months to prepare.
I don't know, I just feel that AT&T started off on the wrong foot with ALOT of iPhone consumers. I know that all my other friends had activation issues as well. So I'm not sure if I believe that the percentage was really 2%... Just my opinion FWIW...
I don't know, I just feel that AT&T started off on the wrong foot with ALOT of iPhone consumers. I know that all my other friends had activation issues as well. So I'm not sure if I believe that the percentage was really 2%... Just my opinion FWIW...
All Good Here
FWIW, I was one of the 98% that activated my ihonoe in under 10 minutes.
From the transaction at the Aspen Grove Appel Store in CO, to the activation: not a single misstep or hitch.
A brilliant experience, for me.
And yes - most people post complaints.
When things are working as advertised, it is less likely people will post a "this is great" message. So take that into consideration.
If readers judged Apple from forums, no one would ever buy anything because A. they either don't work or B. something better is coming out next Tuesday.
Concerning the iPhone: it's an absolute dream.
And no review can do this device justice. You simply have to touch it, use it.
And my guess is you would then buy it.
FWIW, I was one of the 98% that activated my ihonoe in under 10 minutes.
From the transaction at the Aspen Grove Appel Store in CO, to the activation: not a single misstep or hitch.
A brilliant experience, for me.
And yes - most people post complaints.
When things are working as advertised, it is less likely people will post a "this is great" message. So take that into consideration.
If readers judged Apple from forums, no one would ever buy anything because A. they either don't work or B. something better is coming out next Tuesday.
Concerning the iPhone: it's an absolute dream.
And no review can do this device justice. You simply have to touch it, use it.
And my guess is you would then buy it.
It would be interesting to see what you and your friends have in common that may have run you into an activation issue.I don't know, I just feel that AT&T started off on the wrong foot with ALOT of iPhone consumers. I know that all my other friends had activation issues as well. So I'm not sure if I believe that the percentage was really 2%... Just my opinion FWIW...
FWIW all of my friends didn't have any activation issues... well one took 2 hours to transfer a number from IIRC Sprint to AT&T/iPhone.
Al, with all due respect, the snafu you've described is what can happen at any cell phone company and with any cell phone. I use Verizon and needed to have my phone number changed. When they changed the phone number, they forgot to switch over or enable other stand things too such as voice mail. Was I annoyned? Yeah. It was inconvienent to have to call Verizon customer service and say "hey, um, you forgot to do ____." But sometimes that's what happens.
I think Apple and At&t were as prepared as they could be given the unusual demand the iPhone launch placed on their network and staff. People will recommend the iPhone to their friends and family based on what the iPhone does, NOT based on a few hangup's with activation. "Yeah, I few problems getting it activated, but the phone's sweet! Check this out..."
I'm not trying to diminish your concerns, I'm sure your frustrations are genuine. But I might suggest keeping it in perspective to the other 98 percent who may have had a perfect experience.
50% profit margin on the iPhone
News agencies here on the left coast are reporting iPhone sales for the first weekend at 525,000 to 675,000 units. At an average of $575/phone (A lot more 8Gb phones were made and stocked) that's $316,250,000 to $388,125,00 in sales in the first weekend.
Now for the Amazing part... CNBC took apart an iPhone and found out tha Apple's profit margin on the iPhone is 50%. Yes of that 1/3 of a Billion dollars, 1/2 was profit for Apple (less a commission for the iPhones sold at ATT stores). At 50% profit is there any wonder why the Apple stores got Soooo many more phones?
And don't forget home gamers, Apple gets a kickback for every subscriber, for each month that the subscriber uses their iPhone. How much? $1, $2, $3??? No body knows. The only thing we know for sure is that Steve Jobs recently showed interest in purchasing a 265 foot Yacht. I guess he can afford it.
Apple is on track to make more profit this summer than all the Hollywood blockbusters combined. Those movie studio could only drool over a 50% profit margin. Wow!
News agencies here on the left coast are reporting iPhone sales for the first weekend at 525,000 to 675,000 units. At an average of $575/phone (A lot more 8Gb phones were made and stocked) that's $316,250,000 to $388,125,00 in sales in the first weekend.
Now for the Amazing part... CNBC took apart an iPhone and found out tha Apple's profit margin on the iPhone is 50%. Yes of that 1/3 of a Billion dollars, 1/2 was profit for Apple (less a commission for the iPhones sold at ATT stores). At 50% profit is there any wonder why the Apple stores got Soooo many more phones?
And don't forget home gamers, Apple gets a kickback for every subscriber, for each month that the subscriber uses their iPhone. How much? $1, $2, $3??? No body knows. The only thing we know for sure is that Steve Jobs recently showed interest in purchasing a 265 foot Yacht. I guess he can afford it.
Apple is on track to make more profit this summer than all the Hollywood blockbusters combined. Those movie studio could only drool over a 50% profit margin. Wow!
Great Experience
I too had a pretty good experience. I went to the Apple Store around 8 p.m. on Friday, walked right in, got an iPhone, went home and updated my mini, activated it and everything worked right away except the phone number. Phone calls went to my old phone while I waited for the number to port. It took about 24 hours which is actually what I thought it would take. 6 hours seemed like a low estimate to me for Sprint to release me and for AT&T to pick me up. The iTunes process took mere minutes. I'm really pleased with the phone and satisfied with my turn around time. I would imagine that if I stood in line or was already an AT&T customer, I might be a little pissed too if I had been waiting days for activation.
I too had a pretty good experience. I went to the Apple Store around 8 p.m. on Friday, walked right in, got an iPhone, went home and updated my mini, activated it and everything worked right away except the phone number. Phone calls went to my old phone while I waited for the number to port. It took about 24 hours which is actually what I thought it would take. 6 hours seemed like a low estimate to me for Sprint to release me and for AT&T to pick me up. The iTunes process took mere minutes. I'm really pleased with the phone and satisfied with my turn around time. I would imagine that if I stood in line or was already an AT&T customer, I might be a little pissed too if I had been waiting days for activation.
What about last Christmas when so many people got iTunes giftcards Christmas day the server was too busy to log in pretty often...I don't think it is a matter of under-preparing but there is only so much information and processing that can happen all at the same time
I don't agree--the cases that seemed to affect many people (that I described in my post above) certainly could have been anticipated and dealt with inside the iTunes activation procedure. This probably would have staved off most of the issues. Instead, people had to deal with completely clueless AT&T and Apple CSRs in attempts to get their phone to work, and only about 36+ hours after the phones went on sale did the AT&T reps finally become responsive and able to get these phones activated.
Again, I seriously doubt this issue only affected 2%, I would take that figure with a huge grain of salt.
AT&T and Apple could have gone a long way towards alleviating concerns for those who were waiting. They could have sent emails to those affected stating that, yes, there are problems and we are working on them as quickly as we can, we apologize for the delay. They could have made public statements to the effect. They could have offered some type of compensation for those affected (a free month's service, waiving of the $36 activation fee, anything). They did none of these things, and even today they simply made excuses for the problems ("servers were overloaded") without apologizing to those who had issues. It also would have helped if they were not so quick to deactivate old phones, leaving people without a cell phone for hours (or days) before their iPhone was activated.
..Al
And how would the supposed problem you described differ from the activation or porting of ANY other cell phones?
It is very usual, and is in fact expected, for activation and porting of cell phones to take days.
It is not a problem to begin with, and even it were a problem, it is certainly not specific to Apple or AT&T.
problems
I don't see why they should be having any problems at all. When I buy a SIM card in Italy it will work instantly. No complications required. ATT sucks and this is one more proof. I don't know why Apple is teaming up with such bandits to sell their Iphone.
I still remember on september 11 after the terrorist attack a friend of mine in Rome wanted to call someone in NY to see if he was OK. He called ATT to have a directory inquiry (he was in office and the number was at home) but they refused to help unless he had a credit card handy to pay for the service. I think that in such an emergency situation ATT should have been more cooperative and not so greedy.
I feel sorry for people that got their Iphones at ATT stored instead of Apple stores since I read reports of ATT salesmen threatening not to see the phones unless customers would also get 2 gadgets for it. That's really low.
I don't see why they should be having any problems at all. When I buy a SIM card in Italy it will work instantly. No complications required. ATT sucks and this is one more proof. I don't know why Apple is teaming up with such bandits to sell their Iphone.
I still remember on september 11 after the terrorist attack a friend of mine in Rome wanted to call someone in NY to see if he was OK. He called ATT to have a directory inquiry (he was in office and the number was at home) but they refused to help unless he had a credit card handy to pay for the service. I think that in such an emergency situation ATT should have been more cooperative and not so greedy.
I feel sorry for people that got their Iphones at ATT stored instead of Apple stores since I read reports of ATT salesmen threatening not to see the phones unless customers would also get 2 gadgets for it. That's really low.
I have been trying to activate my phone since 8PM on Friday night. It's just past 1:30PM on Monday. I'm going on over 60 hours to activate my phone. I am not porting a number. I am just a new customer to AT&T who canceled his Verizon account and just wants a new number. That aparently is very hard to do for AT&T. I have spent over 6 hours on the phone with them and still have no clear answers. I wonder if I would not have called if they would ever contact me with an email or phone call to how to activate my phone. STILL the worst experience ever with a apple product and I'm a fanboy all the way but this has soured my taste a lot. I have no idea what I am supposed to do now.
I have no idea why you keep assuming I've bought an iPhone. I didn't. I hate cell phones and I have no plans to buy an iPhone. However, I tend to err on the side of customers when it comes to this kind of thing and, as much as I like their products, Apple is not above that. I don't think people shelling out $500+ for any product should take this Apple's-way-or-the-highway approach you think they should. I don't think that's fair minded at all, and I think the whole issue of whether 2% is reasonable for this is irrelevant.
Here's why the activation problems matter...
I was one of the people who couldn't get activated. Answer to your first question... it wound up taking me six hours. The problem was that, for some unknown reason, they had the expiration date of my credit card set to the year 3011. IMHO, if I hadn't called (see below), I'd still be waiting. I started the process at 2pm Saturday, got the email at 8.50 pm (Pacific Time).
My problem with it is the customer service angle. For years now, companies have been targeted by their shareholders to reduce expenses, and customer service (or tech support, if you will) has been a good target to allow these folks to get an extra 2 or 3 cents a share so they can buy a bigger boat. When I have problems with a product, I expect to be able to get ahold of someone at the company who can solve my problem. I expect that the time needed to talk to a representative will be reasonable, and that the person I get will be able to actually help me.
If you will allow me a moment of curmudgeonliness... that's how it was up until 15-20 years ago...
My experience: I bought at the ATT store, I had them run my credit and was approved on the spot, I was activating a new line, new ATT customer, and not porting a number - the profile of someone who should have no problems. Then I got the dreaded 'Wait till we get around to you' message. I called Apple, who sent me to ATT, who sent me to another number at Apple, who sent me to a different number at ATT, etc. I bounced around for a while until I got a lady at ATT who spent an hour on the phone with me doing a manual activation (and she deserves unlimited praise and another week of vacation). Which didn't work. She confirmed that my account was set up, was able to reach the number, but my phone was still saying 'Please activate'. She said to contact ATT Customer Service to finish it up.
So I called. And they were *CLOSED*. And so was Apple. Now you mean to tell me I should be all lovey-dovey forgiving to a company who just sold 250000 - 500000 of these things in 1.5 days and they can't be bothered to add some extra staff for a day or two to help out the people who are giving them large piles of cash?
[set soapbox = on]
So, in light of this, you can't tell me that I should cut some slack to two companies (mostly ATT, but Apple has some responsibility here) who have been hyping this thing for months, run off an extremely large number of product so they can supply the product to anyone who wants one, and then be as ill-prepared as they were. In addition, when the problem came up, they didn't take adequate measures to solve it. There are two possibilities here: either the people running the show were incredibly stupid (in which case they should never again have a job more complex than making french fries) or they didn't want to spend the money, which is more likely. And that just shows contempt to me as a customer.
C'mon, people... have some higher standards. They will keep getting away with this s#%$#@ as long as you let them. People who show contempt for me don't deserve my good will...
[set soapbox = off]
I was one of the people who couldn't get activated. Answer to your first question... it wound up taking me six hours. The problem was that, for some unknown reason, they had the expiration date of my credit card set to the year 3011. IMHO, if I hadn't called (see below), I'd still be waiting. I started the process at 2pm Saturday, got the email at 8.50 pm (Pacific Time).
My problem with it is the customer service angle. For years now, companies have been targeted by their shareholders to reduce expenses, and customer service (or tech support, if you will) has been a good target to allow these folks to get an extra 2 or 3 cents a share so they can buy a bigger boat. When I have problems with a product, I expect to be able to get ahold of someone at the company who can solve my problem. I expect that the time needed to talk to a representative will be reasonable, and that the person I get will be able to actually help me.
If you will allow me a moment of curmudgeonliness... that's how it was up until 15-20 years ago...
My experience: I bought at the ATT store, I had them run my credit and was approved on the spot, I was activating a new line, new ATT customer, and not porting a number - the profile of someone who should have no problems. Then I got the dreaded 'Wait till we get around to you' message. I called Apple, who sent me to ATT, who sent me to another number at Apple, who sent me to a different number at ATT, etc. I bounced around for a while until I got a lady at ATT who spent an hour on the phone with me doing a manual activation (and she deserves unlimited praise and another week of vacation). Which didn't work. She confirmed that my account was set up, was able to reach the number, but my phone was still saying 'Please activate'. She said to contact ATT Customer Service to finish it up.
So I called. And they were *CLOSED*. And so was Apple. Now you mean to tell me I should be all lovey-dovey forgiving to a company who just sold 250000 - 500000 of these things in 1.5 days and they can't be bothered to add some extra staff for a day or two to help out the people who are giving them large piles of cash?
[set soapbox = on]
So, in light of this, you can't tell me that I should cut some slack to two companies (mostly ATT, but Apple has some responsibility here) who have been hyping this thing for months, run off an extremely large number of product so they can supply the product to anyone who wants one, and then be as ill-prepared as they were. In addition, when the problem came up, they didn't take adequate measures to solve it. There are two possibilities here: either the people running the show were incredibly stupid (in which case they should never again have a job more complex than making french fries) or they didn't want to spend the money, which is more likely. And that just shows contempt to me as a customer.
C'mon, people... have some higher standards. They will keep getting away with this s#%$#@ as long as you let them. People who show contempt for me don't deserve my good will...
[set soapbox = off]
And I am sure the multi-touch software interface was a breeze to program also.
Keep in mind that a phone OS pretty much has to be solid.-mark
The iPhone revenue is being recorded over two years; thus Apple are less likely to have one sensational quarter because of it.
It does bode very well for Apple's quarterlies for the next two years!
1) It doesn't matter whose fault it is, it makes BOTH at&t and apple look bad, and having two people to blame makes it worse, apple blames at&t and they in turn blame apple while the end user who is up for $2000 over two years is left with a bad taste in their mouth.
2) As to response times, yeah with so many people needing to activiate their new device it will cause issues, so why weren't at&t and apple ready for this? They hyped the product beyond belief and then didn't get their servers ready to accept what they new was going to be a heavy volume of requests.
Some users will just be unreasonable in their expectations, and of course the ones who scream loudest get all the attention, but also in hyping the product, the media was looking really close at everything going on so they were just itching for issues to happen.
There really isn't one specific group who can take all the blame, but ultimately if the end user experience is very poor then all parties take the blame no matter what.
The end users expectation will be similar to buying a new car, if you buy the el cheapo model and something isn't perfect you get what you paid for, if you go and buy the top of the range car, you expect it to just work. Go buy a Lexus or BMW or the like and have it break down on you on the way home from the dealer and then be told the car you spent so much money on wont work properly for a few weeks.
Given the large volume of requests handled I think they did a pretty fair job, but at the same time, there is no such thing as being over prepared.
2) As to response times, yeah with so many people needing to activiate their new device it will cause issues, so why weren't at&t and apple ready for this? They hyped the product beyond belief and then didn't get their servers ready to accept what they new was going to be a heavy volume of requests.
Some users will just be unreasonable in their expectations, and of course the ones who scream loudest get all the attention, but also in hyping the product, the media was looking really close at everything going on so they were just itching for issues to happen.
There really isn't one specific group who can take all the blame, but ultimately if the end user experience is very poor then all parties take the blame no matter what.
The end users expectation will be similar to buying a new car, if you buy the el cheapo model and something isn't perfect you get what you paid for, if you go and buy the top of the range car, you expect it to just work. Go buy a Lexus or BMW or the like and have it break down on you on the way home from the dealer and then be told the car you spent so much money on wont work properly for a few weeks.
Given the large volume of requests handled I think they did a pretty fair job, but at the same time, there is no such thing as being over prepared.
I was reading this thread this afternoon prior to my iPhone purchase (which itself took 9 minutes at the Friendswood, TX Apple Store...delayed by about 4 minutes only because I was using an Apple Gift Card and a tax-exempt number). Funny when I told my non-techie-couldn't-care-less-about-the-latest-gadget wife I was going to go ahead and get one, she said, "Are you sure, I heard on the news that they aren't working, people can't make calls or get them activated." Aarrghh.
I timed the activation process start to finish, from the time I got home and plopped the iPhone into the dock until I was activated as a new AT&T wireless customer through iTunes.
4:21
Now I'm just waiting for my iPhone playlist (1000 songs) to sync, which is taking substantially longer. I want to cancel the process and start playing, but CoverFlow will be more fun with more albums...
I timed the activation process start to finish, from the time I got home and plopped the iPhone into the dock until I was activated as a new AT&T wireless customer through iTunes.
4:21
Now I'm just waiting for my iPhone playlist (1000 songs) to sync, which is taking substantially longer. I want to cancel the process and start playing, but CoverFlow will be more fun with more albums...
I am still not activated
I started the activation process on Friday 9pm and now is Tue 4:39pm and my t-mobile numebr still hasn't been ported to my iPhone. I was on the phone with AT&T people for endless hours (mostly waiting) in the first two days. And now I have a specialist and she calls me (or txt me) to give me updates. That's very nice of AT&T but they still couldn't figure out what the problem really is. I don't feel upset anymore I guess I found a "better place" so of speak. As long as I know they are working on it I am OK with it. It will work eventually. I hope!
I started the activation process on Friday 9pm and now is Tue 4:39pm and my t-mobile numebr still hasn't been ported to my iPhone. I was on the phone with AT&T people for endless hours (mostly waiting) in the first two days. And now I have a specialist and she calls me (or txt me) to give me updates. That's very nice of AT&T but they still couldn't figure out what the problem really is. I don't feel upset anymore I guess I found a "better place" so of speak. As long as I know they are working on it I am OK with it. It will work eventually. I hope!