It ’s easy to make too much out of a misadventure - filled product launching like Friday ’s iPhone 3 G rollout . Foul - ups and pratfall go with most any Cartesian product launch , in particular when it ’s as challenging as the world-wide tone ending of the iPhone and its attach to 2.0 software update .
People might forget now , after a twelvemonth ’s worth of iPhone adulation , but the 2007 launch was not without its problems . My colleague Jim Dalrymple had about as calamitous an experience as one could think activating his original iPhone , but I ’m passably sure the only way we ’ll ever get him to stop using the phone is to pry it out of his cold , stiff hand . So as enticing as it may be for some to seize on Friday ’s mishaps as an entrée into denouncing all things iPhone- and Apple - related , it would be a staggeringly light - sighted fault .
Then again , it would be an even bigger mistake to sham as if nothing take place . Unfortunately , as of this piece of writing , that come along to be exactly what Apple plans on doing .
A lot of iPhone customers probably felt like these two at some point during Friday’s delay-filled product launch.
How else to excuse the stony quiet emanating out of Cupertino since widespread glitches impair iPhone freeing from London to San Francisco . Apple ’s reply to these report was to have no response — it did n’t comment for IDG News Service , Time , The New York Times , and who knows how many other publications . Although , according to theTimesstory :
Apple did not comment publically on the problems , but in private executives acknowledged the missteps and said the combination of the software upgrades and new iPhone 3 G owners trying to complete their activation swamped the company ’s servers .
So it would seem that Apple ’s determination to essentially squeeze four major product launches — the iPhone 3 yard , the iPhone 2.0 software update , the App Store , and MobileMe — into a 36 - time of day windowpane was … well , countenance ’s be polite and call it “ misguided . ” Why not found MobileMe a calendar week in advance , minimizing the hiccups that mark that roll - out ? Why not release the 2.0 software package update a few daysafterthe 3 G launching ? That would give the first undulation of iPhone 3 G client a chance to trip before the entire original iPhone user base downloaded the update and began re - trigger their own telephone . There ’s no reason to chunk all those releases together , save for trying to create some sorting of memorable launch day .
A lot of iPhone customer probably feel like these two at some peak during Friday ’s delay - filled product launch .
Well , Friday was sure as shooting memorable — I’ll give Apple that .
We ’ll just have to hypothecate on what Apple ’s rationale was for launching everything at once , because the ship’s company is n’t reach any public pronouncements other than to crow about the routine of iPhones sold viapress discharge . ( It ’s the company ’s favorite way to commune with the external world — after all , no one can ask a crush tone ending potentially uncomfortable questions . )
Apple should certainly be proud of the fact that it sold a million iPhone 3Gs in the machine ’s first weekend — but how about a word or two of admiration for the solitaire of the folk who endured a wondrous amount of incommodiousness to enable Apple to hit that mark ? And while we ’re at it , maybe Apple could also assure its customers that it will look into what went wrong on Friday so that it will minimize the chances of repeating those mistakes at succeeding production launch .
That last point ca n’t be emphasized enough . Because at the end of the day , the selling dot of the iPhone — indeed , the selling head for most Apple products — is that it makes your life easier . accept to endure a series of Apple - induced hassles just to get your paw on one seems to hightail it counter to that philosophy , not to mention the very reason for Apple ’s success over the years .
Like I said at the outset , it would be a mistake to overreact to Friday ’s miscues . And not many big - scale product launch go off without a hitch . The critical thing is how you respond to those inevitable snag — with stone - face secretiveness bordering on arrogance ( which seems to be Apple ’s current approach ) or by being as upfront as possible about the problems .
The employees on the ground at various Apple Stores opted for that latter tack , at least . My colleague , Jonathan Seff , support in line for three and a one-half hours in San Francisco , and the only affair that prevented the sidereal day from come into unhopeful misery was the fact that Apple Store employees would come and give periodical update about the rise process , answering customers ’ interrogative and keeping them in the loop . alike , in our report from a different Apple Store in San Francisco , Dale Larson — the Gand who waited hour for a working iPhone despite being first in product line — credit the Apple Store faculty for being helpful and friendly even in the face of the activation nuclear meltdown go on around them .
Here ’s hoping those helpful , accountable Apple Store employees can volunteer some pointer to executives a picayune higher up Apple ’s nutrient mountain chain .
