I think I see why they'd want more manpower... if everyone who wants to buy an iPhone just drop by the shop, pick one up and leave, there's no problem. But all those not buying one are still drooling... and will go to the stores just to play with them. Imagine how many people might do just that.
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AT&T Blocking Out June 15-July 15 for iPhone Launch
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I just hope they are going to launch with a large number of phones. I would hate to see people camping out the iPhone.
I agree, 500 to 600 is a lot to put down for an Apple Smartphone, but to ALL who question the 500 to 600 price tag, I feel sorry for!
They have known about the iPhone, it's release date, roughly, and it's price since January 9, 2007, when Steve first introduced it at MacWorld '07. If they were so thouroughly intrigued in buying one but cost was a factor, haven't these people ever heard of the concept of putting aside a little bit of their paycheck each pay period to save for one?!
If they put just 50.00 aside each pay period, starting in January '07 and ending June '07, that's what, two pay periods each month at 50.00 each or 100 a month at six months, how about that 600 at the end of June! Can't afford 50.00, use 25.00, it will take twice as long but think of the benefits. The iPhone having been out for some time on AT&T, you get the opportunity to hear all the rants and raves of the AT&T service, miss any possible bugs from the iPhone and possibly enjoy the second generation that comes with more memory than the 4 and 8 GB, comes with 3G, and costs less.
Why do I say I feel sorry for those who raise concern over the iPhone price... if they are not geared to put money into savings and investments for their future use, be it a rainy day, emergency fund and retirement, then Heaven help us when the next crop of generation Xer's retire and think that their 401K and Social Security will suffice!
Where is HERE that Cingular is pretty good???
Where is HERE that Cingular is pretty good???
Where is HERE that Cingular is pretty good???
I wonder if at the time of the iPhone launch they also release this thing with hard drives as the Video Ipod for around $350-$400US.
those would sell pretty well I would think and would be a trojon to upgrade to the phone model.
It also would suprise everyone a bit (BUT NOT US!!) and probably cause a stampede.
$600 is just a bit of a bitter pill, but one i'll swallow.
just dreamin eah? (but that's what this forum is for!)
those would sell pretty well I would think and would be a trojon to upgrade to the phone model.
It also would suprise everyone a bit (BUT NOT US!!) and probably cause a stampede.
$600 is just a bit of a bitter pill, but one i'll swallow.
just dreamin eah? (but that's what this forum is for!)
I have never had a vacation during summer in my life, because my dad is the owner of his company, and it requires him to take no vacations from March to about October. From November to February, we're basically never home.
When I worked at UPS vacations were restricted between Thanksgiving to Christmas. Volume would double during those times. Every business has their busy season, or in this case, a launch of a new product. What's disgusting is that customer service is only important to some people if THEY are the customer. Be honest...all of us want to be treated with great customer service no matter what the product or service. Companies SHOULD do this and employees can always find a different employer if they are unhappy. And as for the college kid remark - when are college kids suppose to work? I am a university professor and all the college kids I talk to make most of there money in the summer.
The display is 7ft tall and 3ft wide. Maybe it is a giant iPhone?
So I was thinking lately that they may have optimized OS X and Safari somewhat to get them to run on the little computer in that phone. Maybe some of these optimizations will be rolled back over to the Mac?
So I was thinking lately that they may have optimized OS X and Safari somewhat to get them to run on the little computer in that phone. Maybe some of these optimizations will be rolled back over to the Mac?
Damn! I was going to post this earlier. I was at Cingular with my Dad to get my grandma a Pay-as-you-Go phone. The guy told me about this and some other things I didn't know. These include: SIM card slot, yes. June 15 release. Possible Pages word processing in the future on iPhone. Family plans, yes. I know people say still that the people in the store don't know much about it so I or the manager may be wrong.
And, then lay off the extra employees they hired?
Vacation blackouts are common in the corporate, and especially the retail world.
They don't know how Apple ships new products!
Step One
Keep product total secret to let customer speculation build the product up past the point that anyone can meet the customers vision of the product.
Step Two
Announce product and promise a vague ship date with a short but incredible presentation of the product.
Step Three
Build a huge release date with less than 1% of the product in the pipeline for delivery. This way June, July all go buy with people wanting iPhone. Then when product actually starts to arrive in volume the negative reviews of the people from step one have started to eat at the demand for the new product.
Step Four
Announce that demand for product has been sluggish and that new models will better meet customer demand.
Step Five
Repeat steps 1 through 5 on all new product launches!
Step One
Keep product total secret to let customer speculation build the product up past the point that anyone can meet the customers vision of the product.
Step Two
Announce product and promise a vague ship date with a short but incredible presentation of the product.
Step Three
Build a huge release date with less than 1% of the product in the pipeline for delivery. This way June, July all go buy with people wanting iPhone. Then when product actually starts to arrive in volume the negative reviews of the people from step one have started to eat at the demand for the new product.
Step Four
Announce that demand for product has been sluggish and that new models will better meet customer demand.
Step Five
Repeat steps 1 through 5 on all new product launches!
In the portion of at&t I used to work for, time off was requested based on senority starting the november preceding the actual year you were requesting for. This blackout won't ruin any planned/scheduled vacations. It will only stop people from requesting time off on short notice.
No Supply Shortage?
So I guess this puts to rest the rumor that iPhones are going to trickle into the stores and that there will be a severe inventory shortage.
Why have your whole retail services (at&t) put on alert, prevent new vacation applications, ect... if the stores won't have enough inventory to support such maneuvers.
So I guess this puts to rest the rumor that iPhones are going to trickle into the stores and that there will be a severe inventory shortage.
Why have your whole retail services (at&t) put on alert, prevent new vacation applications, ect... if the stores won't have enough inventory to support such maneuvers.
The hype has been dying down the last couple weeks. Though ATT hired a couple of gorilla marketing groups and said they are going to pay people to sleep in front of our stores at night before the launches to ad to the hysteria. They will have the Loomis trucks drive up with the iphones and they are going to have 500 iphones given away the first 3 weeks of launch. They are also going to have a data only plan no voice which is kinda of cool if you just want to use the iphone as an internet communication device and ipod. This will help bring people over from Verizon and what not since they might still be in contract. This way they can still get the iphone and still be able to use the iphone through the verizon network. I honestly don't know how this is going to work, I'm assuming some sort of bluetooth voice tethering.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
Their slogan says Cingular is the NEW ATT. It can't be the "NEW" ATT for 6 months! Every commercial on TV has both slogans--the thing they don't get is that a transition means you eventually have to stop using the old name! That was the reason for my snarky comment about them not having decided on a name yet (not to mention Cingular previously was ATT wireless).
And yes I know businesses are supposed to make money. But I like to support businesses that treat their employees well; ergo, I shop at Costco over Walmart etc. I think a business can be more prosperous in the long run if they treat their employees ethically.
...and now folks can understand why Apple didn't want to miss the release date. AT&T and Apple are putting a lot of resources on this release.
transitions for companies like this take months. and it hasn't been going on for six months. more like 4. and they'll probably stop in a couple more. and Cingular bought AT&T Wireless with help from their parent company, SBC, and now they are merging with AT&T and consolidating their branding awareness.
and treating their employees ethically? its not like the employees aren't being given prior notice. and its a month. its not the whole summer. last time i checked, people can take vacation time just about any time of year.
Not Necessarily
Why would this rumor be put to rest based on AT&T 's memo to emloyees regarding staffing and no vacation time. If for some reason rumors regarding limitied quantities of the iPhone become true, who do you think won't have that inventory. The AT&T stores or the Apple Stores? Apple has, in the past, stiffed other outlets when inventory was in short supply. Why would or should this be any different?
AT&T is doing what it SHOULD be doing for a new and original product launch. It is up to Apple to make sure the companies it has selected to manufacture their product get all the necessary components and start producing this phone in mass quantities, right? Apple with it's well known passion for secrecy probably wouldn't tell AT&T if quantities would be limitied anyway for fear of "leaked" memos and hysteria amongst the Apple faithful.
Why would this rumor be put to rest based on AT&T 's memo to emloyees regarding staffing and no vacation time. If for some reason rumors regarding limitied quantities of the iPhone become true, who do you think won't have that inventory. The AT&T stores or the Apple Stores? Apple has, in the past, stiffed other outlets when inventory was in short supply. Why would or should this be any different?
AT&T is doing what it SHOULD be doing for a new and original product launch. It is up to Apple to make sure the companies it has selected to manufacture their product get all the necessary components and start producing this phone in mass quantities, right? Apple with it's well known passion for secrecy probably wouldn't tell AT&T if quantities would be limitied anyway for fear of "leaked" memos and hysteria amongst the Apple faithful.
Because (hopefully) a company the size of at&t would have concrete inventory numbers from Apple before keeping everyone at their desks. I don't think Apple will screw their only vendor from the outset.
If at&t knew that inventory was going to be spotty, why keep people chained in the retail stores?
I think people are totally overstating this supposedly high price on the iPhone. John Gruber makes a very compelling case about how the price is not only reasonable for what it is, but comparable to other phones in the same market. You can read it here.
http://daringfireball.net/2007/05/iphones_funny_price
