July 1, 2007 6:45 PM PDT
Some iPhone customers put on hold
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Apple stores finally started to run out of the coveted device Sunday. An employee at the Apple store in downtown San Francisco said all of their iPhones were gone early Sunday afternoon, but he said he was expecting a shipment Monday morning. AT&T stores were mostly out of iPhones on Saturday. The pause in iPhone sales might give Apple and AT&T time to catch up with the activation issues that bedeviled some iPhone customers over the weekend. (CNET Review: Apple iPhone (8GB).)
Apple and AT&T unveiled an innovative activation scheme with the iPhone launch. Usually, activating a new cell phone means spending almost an hour or so in a wireless store as the sales representative lights up the phone. But with the long lines expected last Friday, Apple came up with a way to use iTunes to connect to AT&T's activation process so iPhone customers could set up the device at home.
However, several glitches were reported with the system on Saturday and Sunday as new iPhone owners grew frustrated waiting for activation. At times the system seemed overwhelmed by the sheer volume of those trying to active their new iPhones. Those customers setting up new numbers with AT&T appeared to have fewer problems than existing AT&T customers, based on comments on Apple's support discussion and on message boards elsewhere.
"The vast majority of iPhone users are completing their activation on the iTunes side in a few minutes and without a hitch," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T's wireless business. "But we do have some customers who are having issues with activation."
Activation was supposed to be a snap: Customers hook up the iPhone to a Mac or PC with the latest version of iTunes installed, and the software automatically walks them through the process. After entering a credit card number and selecting a rate plan, the system was supposed to send an e-mail confirming the iPhone had been activated.
But waiting for that e-mail turned into a frustrating experience for some iPhone customers.
"There are a small percentage of iPhone customers who have had a less-than-perfect activation experience. We're working hard to resolve any issues quickly," Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, said via e-mail.
Software from a company called Synchronoss was used to process the activation transaction, according to its Web site. E-mails with updates on the activation process were sent from the company's servers to iPhone owners. An e-mail inquiry to the company was not immediately returned.
A common problem appeared to be existing AT&T customers who were trying to transfer an existing account that was receiving some sort of business discount, even if it was just a few dollars, Siegel said. Both Apple and AT&T had warned customers they couldn't use business accounts with the iPhone prior to launch, but it was possible to go through the activation process and not know that was the issue until a customer service representative was contacted about the delay.
AT&T needed to contact individual businesses if someone was trying to switch from a business account to a personal account, and since the launch took place on a weekend, getting in touch with the telecom manager at a business could be difficult, Siegel said.
Other iPhone owners on Apple's Web site reported problems with the SIM (subscriber identity module) cards inside their iPhones. SIM cards hold information unique to a mobile phone account and allow users to easily switch between phones while keeping their numbers and contacts--except on the iPhone, which uses a SIM card that works only with the iPhone.
It seemed that the activation system was unable to recognize the SIM cards in some iPhones, which led it to bypass the activation screen and move straight into syncing music, movies and contacts. One user reported that his local AT&T store switched the SIM card that originally came with his iPhone for a new one, fixing the problem. Others said they had done the same thing.
AT&T's Siegel said he was unaware of any issues involving the iPhone's SIM card.
The problems were exacerbated by the fact that frustrated users couldn't test the other features of their iPhone while waiting for activation to set in, even though Apple's iPhone guide said otherwise. Waiting for what some termed an expensive "iBrick" to light up was not much fun, especially for those that waited in long lines on Friday.
Otherwise, there appeared to be few complaints from those who didn't have problems with activation, or from those who were experiencing other problems. There was lots of activity on Apple's discussion boards related to the iPhone, but the activation issues seemed to be the only widespread problem.
CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report.
See more CNET content tagged:
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after trying to get one, and then return the device because their
system did not meet the requirements that were spelled out for
quite some time.
The system requirements have certainly not
been a secret. ...
hand.
If you are using older versions of OS X, you probably aren't
jumping on the latest thing, especially on day one. If you are
buying the latest thing (on day one), you probably have the latest
OS X.
download the pix on the iPhone, but that's it. iTunes doesn't see
it even after updating. I spent the morning after debating what
to do; a guy at Guitar World offered to let me activate it using
the in-store Mac if he could try it out afterwards (I decided
against this kind offer only because I didn't want to submit my
iTunes account data on a public box). I finally got it activated
using a friend's G4 PowerBook.
I'm a new AT&T customer and not porting my current number over.
Called AT&T 8 times and they keep getting dumber everytime I call.
Help me
AT&T. The issue will be resolved, if it has not already. You need
to keep your iPhone plugged into the dock. I have a sneaking
suspicion there is a "queue" somewhere. If you un-dock, and
dock your iPhone again, you will notice that it starts the AT&T part
of the process over.
not), I could not help but think that Sprint, Verizon and others
that were feeling the competitive heat were using any slight
excuse they could to slow the process to make AT&T and Apple
look bad.
Not outright not changing numbers or being slow, but using any
"reasonable" error to slow the process. I was told by my
previous provider that the account number provided by AT&T
was wrong by a digit, when it wasn't, which got me to
thinking....
Sort of makes you wonder also if Microsoft is behind the
decision by Universal to not renew its contract with iTunes..... ??
??
Windows?
Hmmm.
The number of
activations isn't an issue. It was "supposed" to be all digital.
And I hate companies and people who get something "sort of"
working, and call it a success. (Those guys in NY who think it went
well).
The first, on an existing account, took exactly 2 minutes and 40
seconds. This INCLUDED the iTunes portion.
The second, on a new account, took 4 minutes and 22 seconds.
My brothers activation, all the way across the nation in CT, on an
existing account, took him 3 minutes and 33 seconds.
The activation issues are coming from user error in Zip Code
mismatch.
This is FUD!
IPhone is the best phone, minicomputer and and portable
multimedia device ever. And not due to the features list, but
due to the overall package, the "Gestalt" (look this word up) and
the screen. Battery life blows my treo and blackberry pearl away
WITH WIFI and BLUETOOTH on. No bugs.
Buy! Buy!! Buy!!!
me less than the expected 3 minutes to activate the iPhone, it went
extremly smooth, and i love it! Plus, i am on the west coast so i
started the activation after 3 hours of people already activating
theirs....
More details:
http://www.appleiphonereview.com/iphone-release-date/iphone-activation-issues-iphone-review-delayed/
strolling along Lake Shore Drive in January! P.T. Barnum wishes
everybody a warm winter.
year. It will be interesting to see what people say when it does
get cold. As for using the phone while walking, I can not do it
very well now or with my old phone. I think favorites calls should
be easy once I set them up but I am a person who walks fast
and has a bad sense of direction. Sorry to hear people are
having activation issues. I went to the apple store yesterday for
an iPhone class and there were 4 guys with me. We had no
problem activating it was the apple employee who said it took 18
hours for his iphone to activate. Based on that sample ( I know
it is too small to be accurate) there is a 20% problem. I wonder
what the real numbers are and how many are user errors?
Now, instead of being bogged down in the fast lane behind some idiot going 52 MPH while yakking to nobody about nothing on his Motorola RAZR, now I will be bogged down in the fast lane behind some idiot going 52 MPH while yakking to nobody about nothing on his Apple iphone.
Who gives a $hit?
buying??
Why is it then that they blame both companies for their lack of
knowledge.
I'm an existing ATT customer and had NO trouble at all setting
up. Took no longer than 3miniutes to activate.
Come on CNET, be honest and blame the consumer rather than
the company in this case.
well.
They failed, and are stating they are pleased with the
results. They are part of that system. Getting something
partially right, still means you got it wrong. This mentality is
indicative of peoples desires to soothe their fragile egos.
I
have to wonder, if this is that generation, that came right after
me, when they decided that grading children was bad for them.
Well folks, look at what we have reaped from this idiot approach
to education, and child rearing. Lawyers who defraud the
country (H1B visas), and say the aren't breaking any laws (no
morality). Software companies that if only one transaction gets
through, considers it a success, while in this industry, when one
doesn't go through something is wrong. We make excuses for
incompetence and are afraid to be extremely critical, vocal, and
suggestive (except to tell people to go F--k themselves).
On
top of that, this idea that the world is only relative to YOU, is
unhealthy at best!!.
You should learn to think how
you are relevant to the world. No the other way
around.
CNET is not blaming consumers. CNet is only reporting what consumers are doing.
information provided them. Was a big part of their bad
experience.
More of them ******* and moaned than realizing they made the
mistake. I really do not have much simpathy for a idiot who
waits for hours for a cell phone/ iPod. Nice little tech toy for
geeks with nothing better to do I guess. But I figure $100 a
month for a pretty phone with a slow network and a difficult
touchscreen for a input device. Im sure Apple is laughing all the
way to the bank!
Im sure their will be plenty of them on ebay in a couple of
months.
Give us a break, CNET. Your story is much like the PC talking points that try to make any Apple glitch sound worse than the multitude of ever-present Windows foulups and endless patches for an operating system that trys so very hard to look like Mac, but still tastes like crap.
You name it, there's a story about it. That many people complaining can't be a fluke. There's something wrong with the AT&T system that will need to be resolved. Blaming the customers is never a good answer for a company that is hoping to keep them as customers.
People claim that their voice service with this company is "fine", but I seriously doubt these claims. Either people are not heavy users, or simply don't mind dropped calls of this frequency. She can't even travel from work to home without dropped areas. In contrast, my admittedly crummy and wildly boring Verizon phone hasn't dropped a call in... I don't even remember!
AT&T is broken.
Seems like the problem lies with your phone and not the carrier.
If ATT is not good where you live, don't use them.
Thank the Good Lord my contract just expired... If this lasts more than a week, I'm gone, so you guys can have some of my previously superfast bandwidth to split up and use for your worthlessly slow iPhone connections.
Thanks a lot!
**pffft**
- My Treo Does Same Thing for Years.
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by kwilsonjr
July 2, 2007 3:15 PM PDT
- I don't know how they can lure all the unsuspecting buyers in to the Apple Pie when all the iPhones features have been available on the Treo for years.
-
Reply to this comment
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- Treo's Screen Not even close to IPhone
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by dansterpower
July 3, 2007 10:09 PM PDT
- My Treo 750's screen is not even in the same universe as teh
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See all 54 Comments >>Even my old Treo 650 PDA Phone purchased in early 2005 came with mp3 player, video player, bluetooth, live TV, EVDO Internet and more.
I've had my Treo 700 since it's release in 2006 and it will play DVD movies you have converted and transferred to your phone, sync with iTunes or Winamp, Media Player or any other software capable of detecting an mp3 device. In addition to providing GPS with my TomTom Bluetooth kit and High Speed Internet with EVDO Rev.A. Plus so many other features and third party programs it would take me a full day to talk about them all.
I can plug my Treo into my laptop via the USB sync cable or wirelessly through bluetooth and give the laptop high speed Internet wherever I am...on the beach, the side of the road, coffee shop etc. Download music and video...oh and use it as a phone.
I just don't understand the stampede mentality for a device that has nothing going for it but it's advertising. I've had all the features of iPhone for years.
Ken Wilson
San Diego, CA
160ppi iPhone Screen.
The Treo cannot play video and photoslides at the same
resolution and size that an iPhone can.
In this area, the iPhone is a whole new device: it is an electronic
sales device and electronic business card as well as a smart
phone. The Treo cannot do this, not with the same user-
friendliness and impact.
I can hand my iPhone to a client and they immediately know who
to use it, watch video, zoom in on Ads or Books we build, etc.
You don't have these features: not even close.