iPhone 3G fiasco could have been avoided

Before they could respond , he would answer the question for them: "You weren't thinking." After Apple made a perfect mess of the twin MobileMe/iPhone 3G launch Friday, I couldn't help but picture Tony in his ...

[Ron]

What a load of pomposity and hot air. I guess it just goes to show: the people who have the LEAST understanding of an issue like to have the loudest opinions about it. The first iPhone was a blockbuster and it took 74 days to sell a million. This one did it in 3 days. Servers overload. That's life. The inconvenience this caused was minor and transitory. The only lasting inconvenience will be the buffoonery the reading public will be subjected to as a result. Grow up and get some perspective.

[Joe]

Give it a break. Apple's not perfect. A number of customers were unable to register their new iPhones for as much as a day. Big deal. If you've ever sold an electronic product where more than a million units were sold and registered in one weekend, then you can tell Apple what to do.

It was by any REASONABLE standard the most successful launch of an electronic product of all time.

Why is the Sun so interested in smearing Apple - no matter how stupid the rationale?

[Krishen]

I too am confused by this-- you sound like you have some kind of insider perspective on the matter?--> "Could have been avoided"?

[Krishen]

Also, cool as it is that you're using Geo-IP tracking to show a comment poster's location on the website, you might want to be more up-front about it, even if it is covered in the terms of service.

[jack53]

I've been to the apple store three times now hoping to get a new iPhone, but deciding against waiting in line. The first time I bought the original iPhone i got it with no problem. I attribute the problems now to the fact that the phones now have to be activated in the store, which is going back to the methods of the dark ages and brings back bad memories of going to cell phone stores in the past and dealing with the mafia types there. I just wish Apple would buy its own cell phone company and re-invent the whole industry the way it reinvented the music business. Please Steve, spare us this pain in the future!!

[Darryl]

The problem lasted for a day. Could have been avoided... certainly.
Having such a tremendous adoption rate that overwhelming efforts to activate brought the servers down is somewhat embarrassing, but this problem is one that any consumer electronics company would love to avoid but can't be too upset about having.
I do believe that a writer, such as yourself could be reasonably served by pointing out the rapid recovery of such a mishap, possibly better than pointing out the negative a week after its' resolved.

[Jake]

ah, as always. pearls of wisdom from yet another armchair critic. hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it?

btw, i didn't even bother to waste my time reading the piece. the title was a dead giveaway.

[Jake]

@ krishen of sarasota - re geo-ip tracking.

well said. i felt my privacy had been violated. ;)

[Jeff Jennings]

Gee my 16GB iPhone 3G easily activated and I had it working as quickly as I could drive home.. Give me a break. I hardly call over one million phones sold a failure. I live in a small town with 2 AT&T stores. They sold out in 30 minutes and had a line around the side of the building.

My new iMac arrives today.

[Art]

In Mexico I didn´t have any problem with my iPhone 3G.
Indeed it wasn´t a fiasco, it was a huge success.

[wjbertrand]

About time someone said this!

I had the same thoughts about Apple's simultaneous launches. I agree that MobileMe should have been released in advance but I can understand not wanting to release the 2.0 software before the 3G launch, after all some users or the original iPhone might decide not to upgrade.
I think it would have been acceptable to announce (ahead of time) that the upgrade software for the original iPhone and iTouch would be available a few days or even a week or two after the 3G launch.
Lastly there was the release of iTunes 7.7 that only happened a few days before the 3G release. With folks trying to access the iTunes server for 4 different reasons, the meltdown should have been 100% predictable!

[RichS]

It is entirely possible that the decision ( or solution) to iPhone "hacking" (requiring in store activation only) was made shortly before roll-out? That might be the reason for being caught a little "flat-footed."

[Eric]

Even with the partial interruption on Friday, Apple still broke all cell phone records with over 1 million devices sold in 2 days. Not bad for a company that is no longer considered "premium".

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[Mark in Scottsdale]

FROM YOUR KEYS TO GOD (AND STEVE JOB'S) EAR!!!)

Will they NEVER learn? Last year at iPhoneLaunch I, the servers locked up and people could not activate their new purchases for hours. Now, supposedly to prevent people from taking their shiny new iPhones out of the country (bother that they are all locked tight as hell to AT&T) Apple decided to insist you activate at the store! STUPID MISTAKE. What's even worse is that APPLE imposed this "MUST VISIT THE DAMNED STORE BS) on people who were merely UPGRADING THEIR iPHONE Original to the iPhone 3G. People who already had AT&T contracts/accounts/phones! Yet they forced even the faithful early adopters back to the store to stand in line and be frustrated, knocked out of service on their existing 'old' iPhone and still unable to crank up their newly purchased iPhone 3G! THAT WAS THE ULTIMATE IDIOCY! Of course on Apples own support blogs, should you mention the fiasco or the frustration, they'll just remove the entry. Last time around the pricing of 599 was dropped to 399 a few weeks later and early adopters raised hell until Apple was forced to offer refunds of $100 in Apple Store Credit to those who paid full bore for the iPhone on intro date (like me.) Wonder what's going to happen this time? A credit against your new AT&T account? A note of apology from SJ himself? More likely NOTHING is going to happen. Although here it is the following Thursday and the blasted mobileme and iphone integration is not working right yet, and, GET THIS - Apple just issued a software update version 1.1 for their MOBILE ME sights/synch/services! Let's see... it's been around for five days and needs a software update already? Face it, that product wasn't released. A half-assed version of it was allowed to ESCAPE because the intro date arrived and the product wan't finished. The grief, angst, and in credible arrogance of Apple is almost like Micro$oft in the earlier days! MEMO TO SJ: Don't get this "We Don't Care Because WE DON'T Have to" attitude that M$oft had for years. Your present success and stock can both come to a grinding end if you make that mistake (again.)

Fire whomever insisted doing this all at once would or coud work. Fire the numbskull who decided to force even iPhone I owners to the store to upgrade to iPhone 3G's, too. You could have eliminated at least a quarter of the traffic on intro date by allowing the faithful to order their new iPhone over the web and activate it at home on D Day!

Lastly, Apple: TRY ADMITTING YOU SCREWED UP and saying "WE'RE SORRY" instead of stonewalling this whole fiasco. Something you have not managed to do as of this date six days after the notorious "DEAD FRIDAY:...