iPhone's Bad Moves In Corporate Smartphone Wars

So there appears to be something of a shortage of iPhones this time around, and while it's probably good for "creating buzz" it's not so great for wooing busy business customers away from their Blackberries, according to reader James. You see, only the Apple store has iPhones, but only the AT&T store can activate them for James.

James writes (to Steve Jobs):

...Since opening day, I have been tracking stores in my travels in Virginia, North Carolina and New York, since I have been traveling through all those states in the last few weeks. Last night, the Richmond Short Pump Apple store again had stock. I had a flight at 10am the next morning and figured I could leave my house at 630, get there at 730, hopefully have the phone by 8:30 and be at the airport by 9. When I arrived I was third in line and all went smoothly. I had all of my information and was on my way, until the Apple store employee got an error.

'Are you a corporate customer with ATT?', he asked.

Read the full story here

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Read more about the iPhone on Huffington Post

Comments

[DMSmith]

Typo alert: I meant I was out of there in 20 minutes! NOT 2.

[DMSmith]

For what it's worth, there has been no nightmare for me at all, and I love my iPhone.

When I bought it, it was set up and running quickly (I already was an AT&T customer). When I dropped it and a small crack appeared in the glass, I took it in hoping it wouldn't cost too much to replace. The man said "So, what's the problem?" I said, "it has a crack in the glass" to which he responded "let me get you another one" Notice he didn't inquire of me or his system if my phone was still under warranty. I was out of there in 2 minutes, with my new phone set up and running, my warranty updated to the new Serial number and all.

I've been a Mac user for years and this has always been my experience of Apple. For what it's worth.

[CaptainHowdy]

"This comment is pending approval and won't be displayed until it is approved."

Yeah, don't criticize HuffPo's daily Apple NON news story.. or you will be censored.

[querencia]

Hate the thing. Haven't had the heart to change phones AGAIN... still catching up on all the time and energy to change it already cost me. But hey- if i can tell Stevie why it sucks and get my money back, it might be worth a try. The f-ing thing locks itself mid conversation, then I have to use 2 hands to unlock it, to re-select phone and the conversation I am having in order to hang up or catch call waiting. I am reinspired reading this to see if i can work it out to get some money back or at least get the FREE blackberry i was entitled to on the re-up of my ATT service when i got suckerd into getting the iphone instead.

[the964kid]

Its certainly fair to say this: the Iphone is the biggest hassle cell phone to buy ever. I say that as an Iphone owner.

I love Apple products, especially their powerbook computers, however, this Iphone business model was not smooth and definitely hurt sales of the phone. They made a huge error a year ago with the price point of the original Iphone (Apple missed expected sales goals) that caused too many consumers to stay away and gave competitors time to catch up. Now there are 3-4 Iphone copies on other networks that will affect Iphone's long term outlook. I do think Apple made some major mistakes that did affect the bottom line.

[KarateKid]

People are such idiots. PRIOR to the launch, they kept repeating to everyone who ostensibly can read to visit the AT&T site to see if you had a plan that qualified you to get a 3G. All anyone had to do was to visit the site and find out that getting a corporate discount would not have allowed you to get an iPhone without going to the AT&T store.

They forewarned everyone, I looked it up to make sure I would not be waiting in line for nothing, so my heart bleeds Kool Aid for those morons who didn't bother to check. Tough luck, fellas, let me get my violin out for y'all.

Btw, I LOVE my iPhone. Set the phone up properly and battery life is no issue, either. No more of those teeny Blackberry screens and teeny keyboards for this guy. You all can have all the Blackberrys you want, I've graduated. And the App Store has so many neat, FREE proggies, too, unlike Blackberry with that crappy operating system.

[Sumocat]

Idiots and whiners. Everyone and their brother is lining up to get one and this clown thinks he can just roll in, unprepared, and grab one. I went in, got my ticket in the morning, came back in the evening with all the required documentation, and walked out with an iPhone. Total wait time was about an hour. Great system when you're prepared.

[KillTheMessenger]

And you went trough all of that for a toy?

:-)

[prthatrocks]

My nightmare experience with the iPhone and the worst cellular carrier in the world, AT&T is way to long to post here, but I put it in a letter and sent it to Steve Jobs. Upon receipt Apple jumped through hoops to make sure that I got a full refund on the phone and a complete refund on the massive overcharges from AT&T - it was truly a nightmare experience that put me through hell. Clearly, the iPhone is the Emperor"s New Clothes. It"s a perfect example if you throw enough advertising, PR and marketing dollars at something, millions of people will actually eat crap and call it fillet mignon.

[95flhtcu]

The business world looks at the I-Phone for what it is. A toy. They might get some small business accounts, but smart phones with actualy keyboards are going to continue to dominate the market.

[Erdgeist]

"The horror, the horror" (from, "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad).

[KillTheMessenger]

Why was I even wasting my time reading this story? It sounds like as if the universe collapses into a mathematical point because a single person did not get "their" iPhone. Geez, a lot of kids did not get that candy at the check out counter this morning from Mommy, either.