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US : The launch of Apple's much-anticipated new iPhone turned into an
information-technology meltdown on Friday, as US customers were
unable to get their phones working.
"It's such grief and aggravation," said Frederick Smalls, a US
insurance broker, after spending two hours on the phone with Apple
and AT&T, trying to get his new iPhone to work.
In stores, people waited at counters to get the phones
activated, as lines built behind them. Many of the customers had
already camped out for several hours in line to become among the
first with the new phone, which updates the one launched a year ago
by speeding up Internet access and adding a navigation chip.
A spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone
in the US, said there was a global problem with Apple's iTunes
servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated
in-store, as had been planned.
Instead, employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the
last step by connecting their phones to their own computers,
spokesman Michael Coe said.
However, the iTunes servers were equally hard to reach from
home, leaving the phones unusable except for emergency calls.
The problem extended to owners of the previous iPhone model. A
software update released for that phone on Friday morning required
the phone to be reactivated through iTunes.
"It's a mess," said freelance photographer Giovanni Cipriano,
who updated his first-generation iPhone only to find it
unusable.
When the first iPhone went on sale a year ago, customers
performed the whole activation procedure at home, freeing store
employees to focus on sales. But the new model is subsidised by
carriers, and Apple and AT&T therefore planned to activate all
phones in-store to get customers on a contract.
The new phone went on sale in 21 countries on Friday, creating a
global burden on the iTunes servers.
The iPhone has been widely lauded for its ease of use and rich
features, but Apple is a newcomer to the cell-phone business, and
it's made some missteps. When it launched the first phone in the US
a year ago, it initially priced the phones high, at $US499 and
$US599, then cut the price by $US200 just 10 weeks later, throwing
early buyers for a loop.
Rollouts to other countries were slow, as Apple tried to get
carriers on board with its unusual pricing scheme, which included
monthly fees to Apple. The business model of the new phone follows
industry norms, and the price is lower: $US199 or $US299 in the
US.
On Thursday, Apple had problems with the launch of a new data
service, MobileMe. The service is designed to synchronise a users
personal data across devices, including the iPhone, but many users
were denied access to their accounts.
Enthusiasm was high ahead of the Friday morning launch of the
new phone.
Alex Cavallo, 24, was one of hundreds lined up at the Fifth
Avenue store, just as he had been a year ago for the original
iPhone. He sold that one recently on eBay in anticipation of the
new one. In the meantime, he has been using another phone, which
felt "uncomfortable."
"The iPhone is just a superior user experience," he said. The
phone also proved a decent investment for him: He bought the old
model for $US599 and sold it for $US570.
Nick Epperson, a 24-year-old grad student, spent the night
outside an AT&T store in Atlanta, keeping his cheer up with
bags of Doritos, three games of Scrabble and two packs of
cigarettes. Asked why he was waiting in line, he responded simply
"Chicks dig the iPhone."
IPhone fever was strong even in Japan, where consumers are used
to tech-heavy phones that do restaurant searches, e-mail, music
downloads, reading digital novels and electronic shopping. More
than 1,000 people lined up at the Softbank store in Tokyo and the
phone quickly sold out.
"Just look at this obviously innovative design," Yuki Kurita,
23, said as he emerged from buying his iPhone, carrying bags of
clothing and a skateboard he had used as a chair during his wait
outside the Tokyo store. "I am so thrilled just thinking about how
I get to touch this."
The phone went on sale first in New Zealand, where hundreds of
people lined up outside stores to snap it up right at midnight,
which was 8 a.m. Thursday in New York.
"Steve Jobs knows what people want," Web developer Lucinda
McCullough told the Christchurch Press newspaper, referring to
Apple's chief executive. "And I need a new phone."
In Germany, sales were brisk at local carrier T-Mobile's stores,
particularly in Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, said spokeswoman
Marion Kessing.
Source: smh
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