Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Friday 11 July 2008, 9:57 AM
3G iPhone - the long wait is over. Or is it?
For about a minute, I wondered whether to join in - having a vague feeling of desire for the device itself, and tempted by the idea of concocting an eyewitness account of the whole affair. Sanity soon kicked in - as it normally does when Apple's involved, once you've had the psyops training - and I left them to it.
And then I did some sums. Given that you have to activate your iPhone in-store, a process that can take twenty minutes if previous experience is a guide, and given that there were three shop assistants, a queue of fifty people would take around five hours to clear. That's before you factor in stuff like O2's systems going down if two people glance at it at the same time...
Even as I type, reports are coming in that people are bailing out of the queues because delays are huge. Others say that registration just isn't working. One rumour says that O2's registration system only works with Internet Explorer, and Apple Stores only have Macs. Another says that the credit check system has fallen over. Still another says that stores have a tiny allocation of phones - as in three - but haven't been telling the queuers.
Here's a helpful hint: for some reason, nobody's queuing outside the Carphone Warehouse shop ten doors up from the O2 store on the Holloway Road. At the 2G launch, this trick could net you a iPhone in minutes, at the height of the fever...
PreviousComments on this post
Just had a phone call from a friend at CPW who says that their systems are back up and running now. Only problem now is, I can't get out of work to get it!
Here in Portugal, you signed a contract with Vodafone and then bingo take the box home and do your own activation they got through 100 customers from midnight to 1.15am including those who wanted to do the registration on line in store
Same thing happened at the first iPhone launch - there was a massive queue at the O2 on holloway and the carphone was just me and 4 others.
Appearently the 16gb is hard to find - some carphone stores only had 3 in stock and even O2 stores a pitiful 16. 8gb seem to be more plentiful.
Glad I got mine delivered this time - should be coming into the office any minute now...
Much unhappiness out there with the iPhone wannabies - I've heard that some CPWs only had five in total, 8 or 16GB.
Meanwhile, Apple PR has sent Cnet.co.uk's Andrew Lim a quizzical email saying "How did you write that review?" -- Apple only sent out review phones to national newspapers, presumably to forestall anyone with too much expertise getting their paws on one. Like all good hacks, Andrew has his methods and his alternative channels - so we had a quick play yesterday. Don't let on, but it's not that different to the 2G - if anything, it feels a bit more plasticky.
DHL stuffed up my delivery so looks like I'll be waiting until Monday now! The wait continues.
A report from Chiswick O2:
"Got there at 5:45am. Was ninth person in queue. They seemed to be estate agents who had been drinking all night. The manager at the store walked the line asking what people wanted (16 or 8) and after he'd run out of "16s" then told folk 8s only Took 45 minutes to process the first 8 people in the queue. Last report at 12:30 was there was a 15 person queue still there and they were good to get one - 8GB though."
I got mine today from an O2 store in the City. I'm a long-standing business customer and all I really wanted to do was order one on the website.
HA! Nothing worked - it was all rubbish. I dropped into the store on the way into the office this morning on the off-chance and when I heard that they had the 8GB model in stock went for it.
It took nearly an hour. Not least because I am such an old (loyal??) customer that my account was on an old system.
The sales guy was great - but a really awful customer experience.
It's not as if everyone knew the iPhone 3G was going to come out for many months beforehand... oh, hold on...
