iPhone 3G: The Long Wait Was Ugly
News Commentary. "Sixty dollars! Sixty dollars! I'll sell a place in line for 60 dollars!" |
The woman offering the place got a taker, who moved about 30 people in front of me from about 30 people behind. I laughed with some other guys, a group of strangers bound by a similar arrival time of 6:30 a.m. PDT. It was 8:35 a.m., and the idea of anyone paying for a spot in line seemed outrageous.
Apple had promised lines would briskly move, with 30 people going into the store at once and the expectation of 100 phones processed per hour. We were perhaps 300 people back in line from the Apple Store in San Diego's Fashion Valley Mall. More or less. It was tough to estimate the number of people.
But hours later, still far from the Apple Store entrance, $60 sounded cheap. And it was the going rate. Several other people sold their spots in line for the same amount. The price would go way up, however. Around 12:30 p.m., I was still about 15 people back from the Apple Store entrance. One woman sold her No. 5 place in line for $200. Two hundred bucks.
The buyer did it for his wife. With a 2 p.m. appointment as deadline, he had to get a phone soon as possible. To line waiters, some mystified by the purchase, Mr. $200 spoke about the commitments of 11 years of marriage, of how his wife had one time waited 8 hours without complaint to get him Star Wars tickets. He had to get the iPhone 3G, as she had requested—whatever the cost.
First in Line, Apple Store, Fashion Valley Mall, San Diego
The real cost was the impatience paid by everyone waiting for so long in line. An hour after the store opened, I saw the first seven people still waiting—for their phones to activate. The activation process wouldn't go well for many reasons. The number of phone buyers caused problems with, and quite possibly the failure of, Apple's iTunes activation servers. For some customers, minutes became hours of waiting for activation.
Server problems would generally mar Apple's opening of MobileMe, launch of iPhone 3G and release of iPhone 2.0 software. No matter what the preparation, Apple wasn't ready enough for the data center load.
Something else greatly contributed to the slow processing of iPhone purchases and activations. Several Apple Store employees told me that there were many more credit checks than had been planned for. I'm not surprised. In an arguably informal survey of 25 people: Four had iPhone 2Gs, one had another AT&T phone and the rest were moving from other carriers, mostly from Verizon. Twenty people! Apple had to run a credit check on each non-AT&T customer.
As the activations slogged along and people waited longer and longer, the festive spirit that the day had opened with turned to frustration and anger. About 11 a.m., I got to within sight of the Apple Store doors. A surprising number of people came out without phones; they couldn't activate. Some of the phoneless people angrily complained to the waiting line about not being able to activate.
Brother and sister wait to get new iPhone 3G for her
Meanwhile, the people waiting in line grew increasingly impatient. Around me, most people stopped chatting, after chattering like little birds hours earlier. They were tired of waiting and weary of worrying, "Will I get an iPhone 3G?" At the time, people were being escorted in one by one, because activations were taking so long, typically 15 to 30 minutes per person.
Ten minutes before the woman sold her place in line for $200, the guy in front of me abruptly left. I had asked an Apple employee how long it would be given where we were in line before we would get inside the store. She paused and responded, "An hour and half to 2 hours." That was enough; the guy left soon after, too frustrated to even sell his place in line. Someone easily would have given up $60 or even $100 with little solicitation. His expression said, "I don't care anymore," as he walked away. Funny, the last of the 6:30 crew was in the store about 35 minutes later. He should have stayed.
I had been inside the Apple store 5 hours earlier taking pictures for eWEEK. I wasn't allowed to cut in line and buy an iPhone, which was a reasonable policy. The return was to chaos. The Apple Store was a case study in noise pollution. Apple employees and customers scattered everywhere. Store staff used handheld scanners that allowed them to make a sale anywhere in the store. And they did.
From my arrival at the mall to entering the store as customer, 6.5 hours passed. Behind me, hundreds more people waited to buy iPhone 3Gs. Frustration, or perhaps relief, is no way to start such an important purchase.
For all the slowness selling and activating iPhone 3Gs, the store wasn't understaffed. I asked the person assisting me how many Apple employees were in the store. He looked up: "There are almost 200."
Comments (12)
Great story - very well written, thank you. Similar experience at the apple UTC mall in San Diego. Got in line at 6:00pm. It didn't look that long. Maybe 200 people. At 9:15 seemed like we had not moved much but the company was fun. The store manager came out and cut off the line but told all of us already waiting that we would all get in and get a phone. But at 11:00 pm she came back out to tell us AT&T's servers were down and we wouldn't be getting phones tonight. (I suspect it was just closing time because it happened curiously close to the time they had earlier told us the store was closing - 11:00 p.m..) They gave us each "VIP" passes that guaranteed our phones would be available for purchase the next day and would allow us to go the front of the line. The staff was very nice and gave out water and snacks but 5 hours in line and no phone - not terrific.
Posted by Tammy Barnett | July 12, 2008 3:20 AM
The idiocy of it all. How in the world would it have mattered to wait another day, week, or month to buy this? You've waited your whole life, what difference would it make in the scheme of things to avoid this waiting in line nonsense? Incredible. Misplaced priorities.
Posted by Jack | July 12, 2008 8:49 AM
You laughed at the guy who bought a place in line? What about the other people in the mall who laughed at everyone who waited six and half hours in a line to buy a phone? That's what I can't believe. Six hours so that you can fork over hundreds of dollars for a phone that let's you download websites a little faster.
Didn't you blog earlier this week that it was ridiculous to spend a week waiting in line for an iPhone? So why is waiting six and a half hours any less ridiculous? And like Jack said above, all you have to do is wait another week and you can buy one without the line, without the hassle, and without having to wake up at 4 a.m. to get to the mall before everyone else.
Posted by Brad | July 14, 2008 8:50 AM
THE funny part, is that outside of the Loservilles (sorry, I mean Southern California and NYC), were there actually long lines anywhere else in the country. I went to a local mall at lunchtime on Friday to meet some friends for lunch and THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE CUSTOMER IN THE AT&T STORE!!!!!!
Posted by Jack Sprat | July 14, 2008 9:32 AM
Hey Jack-off, loserville is anywhere where dorks are waiting in line for hours for a stupid phone. I can see playoff tix or a once in a lifetime concert, but a phone that once it sells out, you just have to wait a couple of days for new ones to come in?
Where you live people probably just don't have any money.
Posted by E-Dub | July 15, 2008 12:23 PM
crazy consumerism... try to forget such frivolous, quite futile "Phones" and use more common sense. a 15 bucks phone any makeis still a phone, and if you need a real camera, a real agenda, a real web connection, buy another specific stuff, your money will be better invested. the need to be "the first" is a symbol of what ? emptiness? crazyness ? futility ? you name it...
Posted by zappymax | July 15, 2008 12:52 PM
I want to know what the deal is with all the photographs showing people doing gang hand signs. I have been to Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego before, but I don't think I want to go back. It must have gone down hill since I was there last. And the other bit of nonsense is have you seen the new AT&T plan the comes with the 3G? What a waste of money. 400 minutes and 200 text messages for $60 per month? I have 800 anytime minutes and unlimited data from T-Mobile for $80/month.
Posted by Steve Pardee | July 15, 2008 2:33 PM
Hard to believe the incredible power of the Apple-philia psychosis. Scary to think this is the priority mindset of the generation we're handing this country over to. Hopefully we'll somehow muddle through to hold some place in the world by the end of the 21st century.
Posted by David | July 15, 2008 3:10 PM
This shows reality of what US customers are. Society of consumer psychos...
Posted by Yura | July 16, 2008 4:46 AM
I for one waited 4-hours in an AT&T Store line starting at 6AM, not only because I wanted to be among the first to have an iPhone 3G, but because my Sprint billing cycle was ending and wanted to be sure that I was switched before having to pay another month on Sprint.
Although their systems were also down, AT&T folks were kind enough to allow us to finish the activation at home. I was somewhat surprised that my local AT&T Store was only given 60 phones to sell. I'm not sure if it's because Apple gave preference to its own stores or that AT&T was stingy in their ordering.
AT&T staff kept us informed, while we were waiting in line and Jamba Juice was kind enough to pass out samples of their yogurt, while we were waiting. Overall, I was very pleased with the way that I was treated at AT&T. Having been with Sprint for almost 13-years, my first day with AT&T Wireless was extremely positive.
Posted by Steve | July 16, 2008 5:05 AM
"...but the company was fun."
?!! How can being around a bunch of Mac-loons for 5 hours be fun? Sounds like the worst thing this side of hell.
Posted by Tronguy | July 16, 2008 10:31 AM
I got in line at an AT&T store early just after 6 a.m. I was number 51 in line and there were at least a hundred behind me.
The rep kept telling us he didn't know how many iPhones they had... we kept asking and that was the word from AT&T. Thank God I didn't need to buy more than one as they wouldn't let you buy two at a time. To get two they wanted you to buy one and then get on the end of the line...
AT 11:00 when I was 16th from the front doors, he came out to tell us they were out. Do the math... they did not have many to sell at all.
Then his words were you can order them...
Posted by Sue | July 17, 2008 12:09 PM