The Industry Standard - Exclusive: Phil Schiller on the long wait for iPhone 3G activation - Comments

I am VERY interested in this

chris — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:00:58 -0400

I am VERY interested in this model:

Apple Macbook Pro 152.16Ghz,1gb,160HD..........................................$400USD

where can i has it?

Everyone: Thanks for your

Ian Lamont — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:50:00 -0400

Everyone: Thanks for your comments. If you are interested in commiserating with other iPhone 3G owners, you should check out the comment thread on the following article that The Standard posted a few hours ago:

Breaking: iPhone 3G launch turns into a disaster

You may also want to see the interesting discussion surrounding our special feature about the critics of the original iPhone, who we were able to track down and interview:

The iPhone naysayers, one year later

Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard

I was #31 in line at an AT&T

Bob — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:11:58 -0400

I was #31 in line at an AT&T store in Rhode Island when I arrived at 7:10 AM. The first eight people went through fairly quickly and left with working phones. However things started slowing dramatically after that. Shortly before 9 AM things just died. All of us waited for about an hour before the AT&T manager sold the remaining phones to be activated at home. As it turned out, I was the ultimate chump as the last iPhone was sold to the lady standing in front of me.

The AT&T manager absolutely swore that the issue was a problem with Apple and iTunes activation, not AT&T. Seeing what was happening in the process, and trying to update my iPod touch to 2.0 after I got home, I have to agree with him.

It sure seems like Apple has failed yet again.

Yet to prove my ultimate chump status I will start the whole process all over again tomorrow at the local store.

Same junk here in Las Vegas

Robert Starling — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:56:41 -0400

Same junk here in Las Vegas plus my old iPhone is hung now unable to connect to the servers after I tried to update this morning. The Apple retail location at Town Center had about 500+ in line around 9:30 a.m. standing in nearly 100 deg F heat, headed to 107 degs midday.

I'll go back next week but I'll NEVER go for a first day Apple launch again. Shame on Apple for not anticipating the server demand... or ignoring their own IT staff who likely tried to warn them this would happen.

Just back from White Plains,

buckalec — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:48:52 -0400

Just back from White Plains, New York - place is falling apart. Trying to acitivate at home but no luck. First time ever I would agree but Apple really dropped the ball on this one.

Philip Schiller is full of

john hoving — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:31:40 -0400

Philip Schiller is full of BEANS!

They really blew this and after all the time they had to prepare its not as though they did not know.

Stock is down 5 bucks already!

Waited in line for 3 hours

John — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:29:46 -0400

Waited in line for 3 hours while the "geniuses" tried to activate phones when I finally got inside I weathered 2 hours of being talked down to by the "geniuses" while they assured me that it as AT&T that was at fault, not Appl. Nice partnership. What a disaster. I am home now trying to active on iTunes and it still doesnt work. I want a refund. Apple is absolute shit.

"Can't really talk to

AndrewZe — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:11:26 -0400

"Can't really talk to you"
"Been reprimanded for my deer in headlights interview gaffe in UK"
"Please go away now"

Not much better here in the

Stefan Richter — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:00:52 -0400

Not much better here in the UK. I turned up half an hour AFTER the O2 shop opened. I was told that no phones had been sold yet and likely none would be sold that day since the entire payment processing system was down. Glad I didn't queue.
I went round the corner to the Carphone Warehouse shop (another retailer which sells the iPhone in the UK) and I was the first person there - 10 minutes before it opened. And I'm glad I went when I did because I ended up buying the only 16GB iPhone they had! They also had five 8GB ones and that was it. Madness. Talk about losing out on some revenue.

I've been in line since 7:30

rik — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:25:50 -0400

I've been in line since 7:30 at the Boylston St store (writing this at 10:25) and we have barely moved. Apple employee have no info on the delays and are being helpful with coffee, water, sunscreen and candy to keep the crowd under control. Very few people have come out of the store with iPhones, which is discouraging. Counter to Schiller's statement, this is the second time they've done this. I stood in line last year at an AT&T store, and the experience was similar. Ugh.

I was about 20th in line in

Scott Martin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:20:03 -0400

I was about 20th in line in Albany, NY Apple store. Got through the doors at 8:30am. Sitting at the Genius Bar kiosk and still waiting for my phone. It's activated but there is an error with their system so it hasn't been fully processed. So they are trying to undo my at&t upgrade, then try it all over again. Still waiting, oh and just right now I heard one of the workers say their server crashed due to high demand. The west coast stores haven't even opened yet. It's 10:20 am. I hate this but I am not leaving the store without an iphone. Good luck to all and hope you have the patience of a kung fu master, cause this is no Zen like experience.

Exclusive: Phil Schiller on the long wait for iPhone 3G activation

Jordan Golson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:23:22 -0400

I swung by the Boylston Street Apple Store in Boston to check out the iPhone 3G festivities and who did I find? None other than Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President for Worldwide Product Marketing.

Phil was hanging by the side of the store on the first floor with his son and, with a white 16GB 3G iPhone in hand, keeping an eye on the festivities. The first customers went in at 8 AM sharp, but the first iPhone purchaser didn't leave until 8:25 -- and some activations were taking close to an hour. I asked Phil if he was concerned about the slow goings of the activation process.

"I've been getting reports from stores all over the world. Some of them report 10 minute activations, some 15, some 20. This is the first time we've done this process -- it's something totally new to us," Schiller told me. "Our retail team has spent a lot of time on this trying to get it right. We're confident that it's going to work well." Schiller did issue a caveat for today's activation performance though. "It's the first day we've been doing this. We'll get better at it as the day goes on."

UPDATE: The launch has descended into chaos. See the details -- and the 90+ comments from other readers -- in Jordan Golson's "Breaking: iPhone 3G launch turns into a disaster"

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

Special Feature: The iPhone naysayers, one year later
Prediction: Apple will ship 10 million iPhones in 2008
Prediction: 3G iPhone jailbroken within a week
Analysis: Independent gaming could flourish on the iPhone
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