Early-adopter deadline for iPhone refund passes
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Blog: Some frustrated iPhone early adopters took advantage of the weekend deadline to get a full refund, but most seem satisfied.
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Blog: AT&#38;T said it signed up 146,000 iPhone subscribers in the first two days of selling the iPhone, but the true promise of the iPhone won't likely kick in until next year.
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Blog: Apple and AT&#38;T stores have started advertising the iPhone, promising "the wait is almost over."
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Blog: Apple and AT&#38;T stores are starting to advertise the iPhone, promising "the wait is almost over."
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User groups said some customers waited nearly 60 hours without getting the iPhone activated, but AT&T and Apple said the problem affects only a small number of customers.
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Apple Inc. iPhone owners, annoyed by the company's decision this week to cut iPhone prices by $200, returned to the fold after CEO Steve Jobs said early buyers would get a $100 store credit.
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With under six hours to go, some people in line for the iPhone in New York are seeing if they could make a few bucks off the product hype by selling their places in line. As far as I can tell, there have not yet been any takers. From Crave, CNET's gadgets blog.
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Many people who lined up to be the first buyers of Apple Inc.'s iPhone made good on promises to try to flip the gadgets online at inflated prices, but a quick buck appeared out of reach for many.
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Following up on Steve Jobs' pledge, early iPhone buyers--those who bought the device before August 22--can get a $100 credit via text message.
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As they wait to nab an iPhone, early risers across the country are seeking to share their experience in real time.
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Apple Inc. has begun allowing people who bought iPhones before the higher-end model's price was abruptly slashed to apply for a $100 store credit.
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iSore or iCandy? iDunno... Apple has announced that its much-anticipated iPhone product will launch on 29 June in the US. The date was given in a series of television adverts broadcast on Sunday, and was later officially supported in a statement by a spokesman for the California-based company.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - After standing in line for hours on Friday to buy the new Apple iPhone, some users were forced to wait even longer to activate the phones, while others found the store shelves empty and will have to wait another week for their phones to arrive in the mail. On Monday, staff at an AT&T store in Boston said they had run out of iPhones on Friday night while a line of customers still snaked out the door. People at the back of the line purchased their phones through "direct fulfillment" and will receive their phones through the mail in three to seven days, the store said. AT&T declined to release sales figures but said that virtually all of its stores have sold out of iPhones. Over the weekend, AT&T referred disappointed customers to the Apple Web site but now says it plans to begin selling iPhones through its online store as well, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe. He did not give a date. AT&T downplayed the reported activation delays. "The vast majority of iPhone customers have completed the activation process in just a few minutes as planned," Coe said. "Only a very small number of customers who purchased an iPhone this weekend are experiencing issues with activation, and all our energies are focused on clearing up these difficulties just as quickly as possible." Apple did not return calls for comment. Some analysts blamed the delays on heavy user traffic. "AT&T's servers were slow due to the mass number of sign-ups in the first few hours with credit checks. This may have delayed some purchasing of iPhones," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research, in his Monday report to investors. Other customers experienced delays when they tried to switch to AT&T from other carriers, he said. Still, Wu upgraded his stock estimate for the company and predicted that the iPhone would become the fastest-selling product in Apple's history. Within three years, Apple could become one of the top smartphone vendors, changing the competitive landscape of that industry. Even customers who took their iPhones home on Friday faced potential delays in activating them. Users who registered their phones on the iTunes Web site saw a warning that the process could take between 24 and 48 hours, said Craig Henry, a 32-year-old IT administrator at a law firm in Massachusetts. Henry's wait lasted for three hours when he received an e-mail confirmation that his phone was activated. However, he soon faced another challenge when he tried to transfer his address book to the iPhone. "The hardest part for me was transferring my phone numbers because I was on Verizon and didn't have the software to keep the numbers on my PC. So I spent an hour typing in about 150 numbers," he said. He also had to get accustomed to the touchscreen interface, which relies completely on finger drags, flicks, and pinches instead of using hard keys. "It takes a little bit of getting used to. But the typing works fine; I was sending text messages all day on Saturday," Henry said. "When you're in the contacts sheet, you run your finger across the screen -- kind of like flicking a marble -- and it scrolls really fast, or you can drag it and scroll slowly." Many users were concerned about iPhone battery life, an issue that Apple tried to address on June 18 by upgrading the original battery before the product even launched. Still, Henry visited an Apple store on Saturday to buy a second charger so that he could power his iPhone both in his home and his office. Despite the hurdles of learning to use his new gadget, Henry said he suffered no buyer's remorse. "I was out on Saturday night, and everybody knew I had it and wanted to touch it," Henry said. "They made a little fun of me for waiting in line so long, but I don't think the wait was too bad. When people see it, they're amazed by it."
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Looks like I'll get the drive back soon. First I got a call from the Emeryville store, then I got a call from a person in Apple Executive offices (she gave me her name and number, but I'm not going to publish it here). I'll report back when I have more info. PS: The number of idiotic comments has gone way up.
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Â·  Dozens camp out to be first in line for iPhoneÂ·  Stakes could not be higher for computer giant
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(InfoWorld) - For all the buzz building about Apple's iPhone launch next week, success is not a sure bet, according to a survey released Tuesday. "The first million, no problem," said Chris Hazelton, senior analyst, mobile technology and trends with IDC, talking about iPhone sales. "Interest in this has been building for years. But the '08 goal [of 10 million sold]...that will depend on the iPhone experience. If it's not rock solid...." The IDC survey, which polled online users researching their next cell phone purchase, found a majority were interested in the iPhone but also revealed several hurdles to mass acceptance. About 10 percent, for example, said they were willing to pay full price -- the iPhone will list at $499 and $599 for the 4GB and 8GB models, respectively -- and sign a two-year service contract with AT&T, the iPhone's sole carrier. That's close to the estimate offered by a survey detailed yesterday by M:Metrics, a Seattle research firm, which said that 9 percent, or about 19 million, of all U.S. cell phone subscribers pegged their iPhone purchase intent at high. Although Hazelton didn't argue with M:Metrics' numbers, he stressed the snags that could limit the iPhone to a much smaller group than Apple and AT&T hope. "The exclusivity of AT&T will be the largest barrier," said Hazelton. "Only some people will have timed it right so that they can leave their carrier and won't have to pay an early termination fee." Others, the survey found, were unwilling or unable to eat the penalties. AT&T's rumored five-year exclusivity agreement with Apple will give the two companies the time to "weed out" other carriers from consumers interested in the iPhone, he noted, but again, that could be a slower process than the companies have planned on. "And then there's the price of the iPhone itself, and the need for a data plan on top of a voice plan," Hazelton said. "That's probably $80-plus a month right there. People will pay it if they want the iPhone experience, but moving forward, that may be simply too expensive." If the iPhone doesn't deliver on its promises, though, all might be moot. Dubbing it the "iPhone experience," Hazelton ticked off many of the same potential pitfalls as other analysts, ranging from the lack of a tactile keyboard to the slower speed of AT&T's EDGE-based data network. How users react to the iPhone, and how they expect to use it, said Hazelton, will ultimately be the most important determiner of success. Nothing will kill the buzz faster and brand the iPhone as a failure, said Hazelton, like negative word-of-mouth from the first buyers. And although the early adopters may be especially savvy about technology, one unknown could play a major role. "There are relatively few people who use smartphones in the U.S., and most of them are business users. This will be the first smartphone aimed at consumers," he said. "It's a complicated phone, basically a computer, and like computers, like Macs, it may crash, maybe a lot." Tales of iPhone problems, say frequent crashes, will turn Apple's hope into another Newton, Hazelton argued, referring to the 1993 PDA flop. In other words, there is much that may not go Apple's way after June 29. Ironically, that would make rivals unhappy, rather than glad to see Apple fall flat, Hazelton said. "The iPhone could open up the smartphone market to the U.S. consumer," he said. "When we talk to other device makers and carriers, they generally welcome Apple to the game. It makes sense. The iPhone raises the bar of customer expectations for what a cell phone is. If it succeeds, other vendors will have more ability to drive product upgrades, get customers to pay more for the device, and carriers will be able to get more people to subscribe to the more expensive plans." Apple will launch the iPhone Friday, June 29, at 6 p.m. local time, with the device available then at AT&T and Apple retail stores.
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Hundreds of gadget fans,  or their paid stand-ins, lined up on Friday to be the first  buyers of Apple Inc.'s  iPhone, a music and video  playing phone that seeks to reshape the mobile industry.