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Posted on 06/30/2007 11:22:20 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Apple devotees rush stores for iPhone
by: ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
6/30/2007 1:51 AM
Customers wait long hours for the latest multimedia product
Jay Kantor doesn't turn 15 until Aug. 12, but he got his birthday present early.
He stood in line with his father, Jon Kantor, for nearly 12 hours to get it.
"The iPhone is the coolest thing out right now," Jay said Friday while standing in line to buy Apple's newest product at the AT&T store at 1404 S. Lewis Ave.
"Ever since I got a Macbook Pro, I knew about the quality of Apple products. So when I found out about this, I knew it would be great," he said.
After six months of hype, the iPhone -- priced at $500 to $600 -- made its official debut at AT&T stores and Tulsa's new Apple Store at 6 p.m. Friday.
The new device, which combines an iPod, Internet capabilities, a touch screen and a cell phone, gathered an overwhelming amount of hype before its launch, and that fueled long lines at all stores selling it in the area Friday.
At the Lewis Avenue location, more than 70 people waited in a line that stretched around the front of the building to behind a Dumpster in the back.
There, Tyler McKeon, approximately 60th in line, hoped the store wouldn't sell out before he could get an iPhone.
Not wanting to wait in line all day, he had arrived outside the store at 5 p.m., he said.
Mark Simone, area retail sales manager for AT&T, said Friday that he's been through many cell- phone launches before but that nothing came close to the planning necessary for the iPhone.
"It's something we've never seen before, so there's been a lot more preparation ahead of time, more than any product we've ever seen," he said.
Not only did each employee spend six hours training with the phone and its touch-screen interface, but they closed the store at 4:30 p.m. to bring out the displays and hold last-minute meetings.
"It's a momentous occasion, so we've been celebrating," Simone said.
Many of the buyers were self-professed Apple fans. E. Kirby Jr., owner of Kirby Kasting, an entertainment production company, said he came out at 6 a.m. because he was excited about the iPhone the moment it was announced in January.
"I only use Apple computers in my studios," he said. "I'd never use anything else."
Finally, AT&T employees shouted "six o'clock" and let the cheering crowd inside.
Almost two hours later, after nearly everyone in the line had bought an iPhone, Simone predicted that the store wouldn't sell out but would "probably get real close."
He declined to say how many were sold.
Jay Kantor was the first customer to finish the sale and get his hands on the long-awaited gadget.
But it took him several seconds to decide which of the iPhone's many functions he'd try out first.
"Everything," he said.
Robert Evatt 918-581-8447
robert.evatt@tulsaworld.com
I still prefer rotary. :)
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Unlimited data comes with the $59.00 plan. Unless you actually spend more than half you life talking on a cell phone, then the 500, 5000 minute plan should be more than enough. This is more than a phone, it is a web browser and email machine.
Sorry Flash, but that domain reside in Micro$oft land. How many new versions of Windows 95/98 XP were required to make it work, and you paid for them. Vista is so buggy enterprise is not adopting it, most of the sales for Vista are through new machines.
Mac OS 10.1 through 10 were all free downloads.
They have projected that supplies will last through the middle of next week before they run out. Jobs himself is guarded about the iPhone in fact. I’m a long time Mac fan [I have 5 Macs] but am not going to buy an iPhone because I just don’t need one.
But it is simply incredible. Download the 24 minute iPhone guide on Apple’s site ... the features and fuctions are jaw-dropping. But will it succeed ... I don’t know.
That’s why I wait at least a year for M$ products before buying. I laugh as much as at the people lining up for the latest overpriced bug filled OS from M$ as I do at the people lining up for the shiny new white plastic box from Apple.
I predict free wifi spots will begin sprouting up to encourage iPhone users to come in.
This touch screen is going to show up in universal remote controls like the chameleon only much better.
The actual facts of the situation is that the iPhones were only available on a “first-come first-served” basis and not on the basis of any “wait lists”. While I read various articles that said that some salesmen (at AT&T stores) were making unofficial wait lists, the actual policy of AT&T was “no wait lists”. In fact, after these “wait list stories” came out in the press, it was then reported that if any salesman was found to be “holding back” any inventory for sale, for a customer who was there, on the spot, that the salesman would be dismissed (i.e., fired on the spot) for doing so.
Therefore, the next story that came out was that a lot of people were going to be very unhappy finding out that their name on a so-called “wait list” was going to be absolutely worthless and they were not going to be told about it, either. The “story” was that it would be “silently dropped” by the salesman and nothing would be said about it or told to these unsuspecting customers, who would find out too late that the wait lists were absolutely worthless and meaningless.
The actual fact of the matter is that every single person who wanted an iPhone got an iPhone, whether their name was on a wait list or not — and all that mattered was that the inventory was there (and the inventory was apparently there).
In fact, if you want to check Apple stores, you can find out if inventory is there, because Apple puts inventory for every Apple store in the country on their web site — as far as if the inventory is there for the next day. I see no problems with all the store I checked. They all had inventory even with the big rush on Friday night.
After about three thousand people moved through the new Apple store in Tulsa, I was there and could have bought an iPhone on the spot, with no problems. I waited, though, because I’ve got to check on an area code first. I see that there are going to be no problems getting the iPhones, because they’ve really pumped up the inventories to meet the demand.
The people on eBay who thought they were going to “cash in” on some shortages were caught short and they’re dumping their iPhones as quick as they can.... since they can’t get a “premium price” over and above the Apple store and AT&T store price (like they were thinking they could... LOL).
Regards,
Star Traveler
Well, there are plenty of free WiFi HotSpots right now, because they are encouraging laptop users to come in. I mean, I get on my list and I can find them all over the place. So, that’s been happening for quite a well, now..., long before iPhone...
Regards,
Star Traveler
That’s a good idea.
rememember when tech stocks were up eleventy gazillion points, and buying dog food over the internet was the next best thing? Maybe it is, but the consumers just weren’t quite ready for it.
Anyway, I want an iphone. Why are sites like eBay flooded with auctions for phones, when I could get one delivered albeit in “2-4 weeks”?
Well, I think those people on eBay were banking on shortages and -they- are the ones who got “caught short” instead. Apple has no problems with inventory at this time, even though I saw that Apple store I went to selling them like hotcakes. I saw person after person walking out of that place with an iPhone. It was amazing.
And, I think you can get that iPhone from the Apple Store in a matter of about three business days with the special shipping they offer. If not that, then in five days, anyway (with free shipping). There’s no 2-4 week wait at the Apple online store that I know of and I went there and took my “order” all the way through to the “click to actually purchase” point.... The shipping time was a mere days...
Regards,
Star Traveler
Hmmmm. Apple is at the top of both reliability and customer service satisfaction lists. I think you are merely attempting to spread FUD... and really don't know what you are talking about.
Computer Reliability
PC Magazine - "Last year (2005), Apple's score on units needing repair was an impressive 11 percent—well below that of any other company in the survey. But according to readers, the company has managed to cut repair rates even further over the past 12 months. This year (2006), Apple's score on units needing repair drops to 8 percent. Among first-year systems, it's only 5 percent. That's nothing less than astonishing." Source.Customer SatisfactionRescue.com - "A new report out by computer repair and support company RESCUECOM suggests that Apple is maintaining its overall high reliability scores. In the report's rating system (where a larger number is better) Apple scored a 201, second only to IBM/Lenovo which scored 243. The next-best was HP/Compaq with a score of 12, and market leader Dell only had a score of 4. Negative scores were possible, as Gateway (-12) and other manufacturers (-16) demonstrated." Source.
OSNews - "Newly published data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index show that Apple leads other personal computer manufacturers, beating out Dell, HP and others. On a 100 point scale, Apple merited a score of 83, according to the ACSI, a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase and a 7.8 percent increase from 1995, the first year the ACSI measured the PC industry. The annual ACSI is sponsored by the American Society for Quality and University of Michigan's M. Ross School of Business. It's derived from phone interviews with customers contacted by using digital-dial telephone samples. More than 70000 consumers are identified and interviewed annually." Source.
Technical Support Rating
BusinessWeek - "Apple is ranked No. 18 (of ALL US BUSINESSES) on BusinessWeek's The Customer Service Elite, but led the PC industry in customer satisfaction in part to due to the service offered at the company's Genius Bars. "Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements, Apple's customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated phone system as easy to navigate and good at resolving questions," according to the report. The report also noted that "Apple's customer service shows its bruises--device problems frequently erupt just after warranties expire," but said that the support offered at the "Genius Bars" at its retail stores set it apart from its peers. . ."No other PC vendors were among the top 25 . . ." Source
Laptop Magazine - Tech Support Showdown 2007 - Rating A "All computer vendors have become quite strict about providing tech support only to registered owners during the first year of service. Apple is decidedly different: Free tech support is available for just the first 90 days from the date of provable purchase. On our first call, answered within 30 seconds, Val in Ontario, Canada, told us that based on our serial number the system was manufactured in November 2006, so unless we had a receipt we could fax in, no support could be provided. But she answered our questions anyway as a courtesy, and delivered a perfect solution in a minute.
"Apple's Web support is excellent, and we found the answer to our second question on the site with a simple search. The site's search engine is one of the best PC support sites we've seen.
"Our second call was answered with an automated warning that the estimated wait time was eight minutes or less. Apple stands alone with this helpful phone support feature. John in Ontario picked up in 7.5 minutes and had us off the phone a minute later with the right answer. And like Val, he gave us a pass on the 90-day limit." Source.
Design
The Chicago Athenium - "The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design announces the Museum's annual GOOD DESIGN™ Awards for 2006 won by the world's most prestigious industrial design firms and manufacturers in over 25 countries." Of the 57 awards in Electronics, Apple Inc. won 10 of them. Source.
Care to retract your FUD, Flashbunny?
I had my original BSR X-10 Home Automation System running on a dedicated Commodore-64 way back when - around 1984 or so ... I migrated it to an Amiga and then to a Mac. No particular reason to run it on a Windows PC. ;^)>
Well I swear the website changed then, before my eyes to “2-4 weeks shipping” when I looked at them. Still the same price though, and I saw eBay auctions for sealed units hovering around $1k, don’t know how they ended up.
I am forecasting 20 million iPhones sold by Christmas and 400 million sold by the end of 2009 and one billion by end of 2012. By then, the iPod will have sold 500 million units and Apple Mac OS will have achieved parity with Microsoft Vista with respect to current sales.
Some are people who believed the anti-hype that Apple could not provide enough to supply the demand... and bought at retail on speculation that they could sell them for a premium on eBay. Others are scam artists who have no phones for sale and will be long gone with customers' money before the iPhones are due to be delivered...
What FUD?
Or did the battery fiasco and their $100 replacement policy never happen? No class action lawsuits were settled with that, right?
Ipod Nanos never had a scratching problem? The solution to which was “Buy a case!” After they marketed it as the mp3 player you can just stick in your pocket and lock stylish doing it.
So, where did I post FUD? Actually I posted that I directed my parents to buy a mac mini because it was the best option for them.
For the rest, I’m talking about the early adopting apple fanatics who will wait in line for every new version of every product because they have an emotional attachment to apple. It’s beyond bizarre, but I can see how apple is effectively pushing this strategy. They get people to pay a premium for a product that is often surpassed by the marketplace in just a few months for much less.
I really don’t like product fanboys of any persuasion. They too often throw logic and facts out the window in their fanaticism for a stupid box of circuits or piece of software. Apple, MS, Linux, PS3, XBOX, Nintendo, you name it. They’re all just a little too into it. It’s just a piece of technology that, in it’s current form, will be obsolete in 5 years and worth about 1/10th or less that what you paid for it. Woohoo. Let’s get worked up about it!
Some people realllllly need to take a step or two back and look at the things they’re getting attached to.
Those people on eBay are plain crazy then, buying an iPhone for $1,000 — when you can walk straight into an Apple Store and get one today for the basic selling price... LOL...
To all the naysayers...
“Rock and Roll is just a fad”
“Who would ever want a computer in their home”
“No one will ever need more than 640K of Ram”
“Horseless carriages will never be practical or affordable for the common man”
“If man was meant to fly, he’d have wings”
etc, etc, et F’ing ctera !!
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