by Pete Wright
Personally, I haven’t had trouble with AT&T’s handling of the 3GS launch. Days prior to the device hitting the market, the company announced that I would be eligible for the fully subsidized rate for the iPhone, saving me $200 to break my old contract as my plan had outlined when I agreed to it less than a year ago. I bought the phone, it was activated in seconds — not minutes, and hardly hours — and I was calling on it as I left the Apple store on Saturday, launch weekend.
Still, a lot of folks were peeved. My own dad has endured two multi-hour sessions in line to buy the phone, only to be told that AT&T says his contract won’t let him upgrade. But he’s an iPhone 1st gen user. That means he’s finished his two year contract on the first phone, which he purchased unsubsidized two years ago. The reason his two year contract is still in play, says AT&T? Because he moved and changed phone numbers, and therefore restarted his contract. Needless to say, many supervisors have been informed. And dad’s practicing patience.
The biggest challenge for AT&T is that their performance on launch weekend doesn’t include key features the phone now supports around the world: Tethering and MMS messaging. AT&T says both features will come soon — later this summer is the word — and more importantly, they say it’s not their fault, that the network is up and running and could support these services immediately. Whatever. That doesn’t serve me right now. Oh, and don’t forget the devs — WWDC this year appears to have been something of an anti-AT&T party.
Still, it’s unlikely Apple is going to find a new dance partner in the U.S. Together, Apple and AT&T have sold more than 6 million iPhone 3G units to date, according to AT&T. With that much at stake, it’s unlikely the two will call it quits after coming so far. Our advice? It’s time for a little heart to heart. When stuff gets rocky, a common method is to look back and discuss the situation to avoid repeating mistakes. The following is our analysis of what went wrong with the iPhone launch and why (according to AT&T; Apple has not answered our requests for explanation), coupled with suggestions for how execution could have been better.
