The iPhone 4 seems to be amazing. Getting one is a nightmare. Apple launched its pre-order of the new device. The tagline surrounding the new iPhone reads: “This changes everything. Again.” That may be true about the device itself but the old, familiar headaches of seeing your way clear to owning one are back as always.
With the initial release of the iPhone, now called 2G, and the 2nd iteration, the 3G, your options were basically to an AT&T store the night before and wait until morning in hopes that you weren’t too far back in the line to receive that little black box of happiness. There were not enough to go around and many people went home iPhone-less and despondent. Those who did get one could only have hoped they were near enough to the AT&T store to survive the wait to plug into iTunes and activate it. The 3G fixed the latter, allowing AT&T to activate in the store. I drove 45 minutes from the nearest AT&T store with the first one staring at the emergency call screen hoping it would activate itself. At least they gave 911 access in case I ran off the road staring at the revolutionary piece of technology.
The 3G S brought a new set of worries with its model. Go to a website (apple.com or att.com) and order one, hoping to sneak into a spot in the virtual line and get through the process without the site crashing or, at best, timing out forcing you to start again. I can almost see why the two giant companies didn’t foresee this issue. The 3G S didn’t do anything different than the 3G when you really get down to it. It’s faster, it has a compass and it was just enough to whet the appetite of every aspiring fanboy and early adopter.
As per their tagline for the iPhone 4, this changes everything; again. It is shaped different (3G and 3G S were identical in that respect) and looks beautiful. It is another home run for the designers at Apple who focus on tech sex appeal. It has dual cameras and an LED flash. It has the best resolution seen on a phone of any kind. It does video calling. It has Apple silicon in it. The list goes on.
How AT&T and Apple could not see a massive surging coming makes me wonder how each of them got to where they are today. They didn’t, though. Apple’s website has been down most of today and AT&T’s phone support is a step above, “There’s a new iPhone?”
I began my hunt at 5am (central) and made it most of the way through the process before it failed. This went on for hours until about lunchtime when the process fell apart altogether. Throughout the day, with each passing hour, I got a little further without total success. I called a local AT&T store and got no answer. I tried AT&T’s website and was told I couldn’t upgrade via their site (keep in mind, I’m a premier customer with a separate website and phone number than the public facing portal). I called their corporate line and was met by someone on the other end of the phone who knew less about the process than I did.
Finally, I went to the store in person at about 5:30pm, over 12 hours later. After 20 minutes of standing around someone began to take my information. She told me the delivery date was July 5th. When I inquired if it was specific to them she told me it was from Apple. I asked if all AT&T heard that from Apple and she told me that Apple is shipping July 5th and the date changed as of noon today. I have a hard time believing that. Maybe for AT&T store pre-orders that applies (Apple’s website still says June 24th).
I left without completing the purchase. The entire way home I convinced myself that even getting the device was silly and worthless and certainly not enough to put myself through what I had. When I came home, in 27” of iMac glory, Apple.com sat. I clicked once more and it went through! I did have 2 in my cart though so something went through earlier today without letting me know. I get to the checkout screen and find my shipping address is wrong. I never updated it with AT&T when I moved last September and Apple wouldn’t let me.
With pending regret I emptied my cart and changed my address at ATT.com and headed back to the pre-order function on Apple’s site. It didn’t work. I thought I had a problem. Deep breath; “One more try.” Shortly before turning blue, I let out a sigh of relief as I was back to the checkout screen, with the proper shipping address.
It was now 6:30pm - 13 and a half hours after I began this and an estimated 200 attempts from my desktop, iPhone, iPad and work computer throughout the day. I still have the confirmation on my screen, as I have not yet received the confirmation email that I was told was sent 40 minutes ago. I’m still nervous as to whether I’ll receive it or not.
What have we learned? Buying an iPhone will never be easy. It has become a utility for so many people, that we have to have the newest version. Regardless of whether you’re in the Apple or Microsoft “camp” there is no denying it. Enough people rushed Apple’s site today that the servers went down for over 12 hours with only intermittent reports of successful purchases.
I learned that I need to brace myself for this each year. Clearly, giving up is not an option. Logging on and buying one is not an option either. Buying an iPhone is the digital equivalent of shopping on Black Friday. We all complain. We all hate it. We all do it… year after year.
