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I wonder if Steve Jobs will rue the day he chose AT&T only for its branding, but without sufficient due diligence on its atrocious customer and technical support.
IMO, there's a strong possibility if not probability that AT&T support problems could noticeably impede iPhone sales.
Anyway, here are some in-the-money August puts for AAPL:
120.00 QAATD.X 3.80 Down 2.20 3.80 3.90 11,108 23,067
125.00 APVTE.X 5.70 Down 2.90 5.70 5.80 4,047 3,002
Wouldn’t AT&T would love to screw Apple...
I would never use AT&T again. Absolute worst customer sservice I ever had. No way no how.
Yep.....marrying the iPhone to AT&T for such a long period of time, in my opinion, was a HUGE mistake.
Don’t throw it out the window. Sell it on EBay...I’m told they’re bringing thousands.
AT&T... We sure did miss you!
Mark
Wahhh-wahhh-wahhh.
I work for MacWorld.
Wahhh-wahhh-wahhh.
I worship Steve Jobs like a god.
Wahh-wahhh-wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I’m going to pout in my hotel room all weekened because my jesus phone won’t activate properly. Oh the humanity.
Wahhh-wahhhh-wahhhh
He should drop it on Paris Hilton.
With truly important topics to discuss, that there’d be a thread devoted to whining about iphones is, I suppose, a measure of the strength of our society.
I keep telling myself that.
I bet doing tech support for Mr. Dalrymple is an absolute joy...
No way would I go back to AT&T, Cingular, or whatever they choose to brand themselves next month. After they royally screwed up their billing systems then sent their customer NoHelpWhatSoEver desk to India, forget about it.
Funny. I had very similar problems when I got a blackberry. It worked fine at first, then 3 days later stopped accepting or placing calls. I called, they “sold” me a new package and said I needed it to make the phone work (BS because the phone worked fine for days without it). But I had to be transferred to the blackberry support. Call dropped during the transfer. Call back, transfer goes OK, but they say I need something else added. Then the phone starts to work after a hard reboot (which probably would’ve fixed the problem to begin with). Then, though, SMS stops working which I didn’t realize until a week later. Call again, the guy says “you bought the wrong package” but that the package I did need was cheaper. Great I said, but what about SMS? Oh, you need to add SMS.
Now, I had all this on my old PDA phone and never had a problem. Unlimited internet, unlimited SMS etc.... but those plans are not allowed on the blackberry. You need more expensive plans, to pay Blackberry a fee and AT&T a fee. We’re the suckers. I resisted a cell phone for so long, and I knew why I never wanted one. They allow complete intrusion into your life. Talking to someone face to face and someone’s phone rings. You real life is put on hold because you “have to answer the phone”. Happens all the time. I hate cell phones for that reason.
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Who in the hell pays $700-1K for a phone and 1.5k a year for service anyway?
What does this thing do? A happy dance in yer pants?
AT&T?? never again, switched to Verizon a couple of years ago, company mandate, and have never looked back.
iPhone sales estimates as high as 700,000
Jim Dalrymple - MacCentral
Mon Jul 2, 6:46 PM ET
It will be a while before the official numbers come in, but some Wall Street analysts say that Apple might have sold as many as 700,000 iPhones over the device’s opening weekend.
That figure comes from Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey, who had projected 350,000 units sold prior to Friday’s launch.
Other analysts also projected robust sales for the weekend. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster put sales at about 500,000 units, more than double the 200,000 he forecast before the iPhone went on sale.
“Apple has really met expectations and delivered the product they promised to deliver,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch. “If the initial forecasts of sales are correct they have blown away everyone's expectations, except perhaps their own.”
Not every analyst saw the weekend as a success. JP Morgan analyst Bill Shope pegged sales at approximately 312,000 for the weekend and said in a note to clients that demand may have been a bit disappointing.
It’s clear that the iPhone generated a lot of interest on Friday’s launch day. Some shoppers reported delays in activation, which some analysts attributed to high volume; AT&T said most issues have been resolved.
Approximately two percent of users have reportedly been affected by activation issues. Analysts don’t see the problems over the first couple of days affecting the iPhone over the long term.
“This is a new process, but most of it was you had 500,000 people trying to activate their iPhones over one weekend,” said Gartenberg. “There is a certain frustration when you spend $600 for a device and want use it right away, but it’s not something that’s going to happen all the time.";
It’s not unprecedented for high digital sales to slow down service. Last December, busy holiday sales overwhelmed the iTunes Store as shoppers redeemed their digital gift certificates.
After using the device for the weekend and weighing the affects of the AT&T activation issues, analysts believe the iPhone itself and the launch events that took place around the country have been successful.
’It’s hard to sell 50,000 units let alone 500,000 — that means they really hit the consumer consciousness,” said Gartenberg.
“Clearly, the launch was executed very well,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. “The iPhone design reflects the level of flexibility that lies ahead for the industry.”
Activation issues resolved
By Jim Dalrymple
So, to pick up from where we left off last night… After going from the excitement of flying to New York and getting my iPhone to the disappointment over being unable to activate, thanks to some troubles with AT&T, I am pleased to report that I now have a fully functioning mobile phone.
I flew home from New York Saturday morning with a new determination to get my iPhone working. I spoke with a nice gentleman, Peter, that had the knowledge to answer my questions and the know-how to implement whatever changes that needed to be made to get my iPhone working.
Thanks, Peter.
As compared to the frustrations of a day ago, the activation process that I saw today was incredibly easy and straightforward. I plugged in my iPhone and iTunes opened; I filled in my information; chose my data package; agreed to the terms and a two-year agreement; and clicked submit.
The iPhone screen said that it was waiting for activation, so I clicked continue in iTunes and named my phone—by the time I did that, the iPhone had been activated. That is the process I was expecting with the iPhone all along.
As for anyone out there still having problems getting their phone up and running, AT&T has several numbers that you can call including a number—877/419-4500—that comes up in iTunes.
I have had a little time to play around with the iPhone and will post my thoughts on the features soon, both here and at iPhone Central.
The product is misnamed. It should be called the “iDontActivate.”
Sounds like the problem was with AT&T, not Apple. They should have gone with Sprint.
I kind of have to laugh at all this, having been an early adopter in an earlier life (80s and 90s). Now I get by with my $9.00/month Tracfone and a 1999 Compaq Laptop. Never a bit of trouble with the Tracfone and I switched to Linux on the laptop when MSFT$hit got too bloated for it.
AT&T is the only IPhone carrier because they have put up a lot of their own money to get the IPhone up and running. IOW Apple made a large investment in it and so did AT&T. AT&T has provided lots of its cell phone expertise. I view it as a joint venture between the two though that seems to have a two year expiration date where IPhone will also be available on other cell phone providers