Just after 8 am on Friday morning, I was sitting at home with my shiny new iPhone 3G S in hand. I'd heard horror stories about buying an iPhone on the day of its launch, and I was prepared for the worst. But, overall, my experience was (almost) entirely smooth sailing.
In fact, the biggest snag I faced in getting my iPhone 3G S came last week: I visited my local AT&T store the day after the new phone was announced so that I could pre-order an iPhone 3G S and then pick it up in person on June 19. But when I tried to do so, the AT&T sales rep told me that a server was down. He took my name and phone number, and promised to call when the server was operational.
But he didn't call, and when I called the store back later in the week to find out the status of my order, I was told that the order hadn't been placed. I was also told that the iPhone 3G S was now on back order, and the best I could was to order a phone and hope for it to ship within a week or two.
So I turned to Apple, and had better luck: I reserved an iPhone 3G S online, selected a store where I could pick it up, and went to bed early last night. The Apple Store in the Boston suburbs opened at 7am, so I showed up at 6:30, hoping I wouldn't be left waiting too long. I was in luck.
Apple Store staffers greeted us at the mall, organized everyone into two lines: Those who had pre-ordered their phones and those who hadn't. They gave us water, coffee, and doughnuts while we waited. And, promptly at 7am, they opened the doors. I was probably the 20th person in the line for those who had reserved their phones, and I was greeted by my Apple personal shopper at 7:30 am. By 7:45, I was done, having purchased and activated my phone in the store.
People who hadn't reserved their phones ended up waiting longer. The Apple Store concierge seemed to be taking in about ten people from the reserved line for every one or two that he took from the non-reserved line. And both lines were much longer when I left the store than they'd been when I showed up.
Overall, though, the entire process seemed to be running very smoothly and -- early in the day, at least, Apple and AT&T seem to have avoided many of the problems that plagued last summer's launch of the iPhone 3G. The activation process was quick and, from my viewpoint, seamless. And the crowds, though sizable, were manageable in size.
The biggest problem the Apple Store staffers seemed to be facing were people who thought they'd reserved a phone, but hadn't. Many people were taken out of the "reserved" line and moved to the "non-reserved" line -- and some of them were not very happy about it.
But I was very happy with the process, and am, so far, very happy with my new iPhone 3G S. For all the details, read my full review.
Image © Apple
Comments