Apple's $30 apology for iPhone activation delays?
Apple is reportedly offering iPhone 3G S buyers a $30 iTunes Store credit for activation delays.
(Credit: Apple)
iPhone 3G S buyers are still experiencing delays activating their new smartphones, but Apple apparently wants to make it up to them.
Apple began notifying affected customers via e-mail on Sunday that they may experience additional delays for another two days due to "system issues" and "high activation volumes," according to readers in various blogs who claim to have received the e-mail.
The problems began immediately after the new iPhone's launch Friday.
As a way of apology for the delays, the same e-mail said Apple plans to offer customers a $30 credit iTunes Store credit for "the inconvenience this delay has caused."
Here's the entire text of the e-mail:
Dear Apple Customer,Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.
We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.
On Monday, you'll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.
Thank you for choosing Apple.
Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Team
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During last July's iPhone launch as new customers tried to complete the required in-store activation process, overloaded AT&T activation servers slowed Apple Store lines to a crawl, and the servers eventually crashed altogether. Apple soon ditched the in-store activation and was simply "unbricking" phones, letting buyers activate them at home rather than hold up the line because of crashed servers.
In stark contrast to the frenzied first day sales of the original iPhone and last year's iPhone 3G, Friday's launch was marked by considerably smaller and quieter crowds for the smartphone's debut.
One analyst expected Apple to sell 500,000 iPhones this weekend. That's half as many phones as Apple sold when it launched the iPhone 3G, but Apple sold that phone in 21 countries on the first day. In comparison, the iPhone 3G S was sold in only eight countries on its first day.
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven. 
For you folks out there that have grown up with this technology, I hope you see the same kind of changes I have for the last 40 years. It's a part of what makes life worth living. Enjoy what's happening, and don't let small hiccups bother you, they always get straighted out. Help each other when you can. We all have a little geek in us, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this comment right now. Rock on...
That people are complaining because an upgrade took a few hours longer than they wanted is just sad...
TV? :-)
I've tried a bunch of different gadgets (Sharp Zaurus, circa 1994?) and hands down the iPod touch just rocks. A 99-cent game that entertains me for hours? That is effing worth it.
The other question is, has your device been Jail Broken?
Touch owners pay more for the product with a higher profit to Apple and do not qualify for compensation. They are second class citizens.
Nope not jailbroken and I am referring to the car interface issues. Apple wrote code that would break on existing 3rd party products. So, who should I be mad at when this worked perfectly well under the 2.0 and with a 4th gen Nano.
I was "waiting for activation" for over 8 hours before finally calling AT&T who surprisingly seemed unaware of the problem until they contacted a tech at Apple while I was on the phone. I gave them the new SSID and IMEI numbers and was activated in less than 30 seconds when reconnecting to iTunes.
Does anyone know if I get the $30 for this hassle or is it just people who are still not activated?
I would wager that most of these activation issues are coming from existing AT&T customers.
My phone was listed as 999999999999 rather than the proper ID number, so once they got that fixed, the phone worked immediately. But then the data didn't work over 3G, as it turns out that the data plan didn't get added because with the phone listed as 9999999999, there was no qualifying phone on the account when the initial order went through.
This is entirely a problem with the phones shipped by Apple to existing customers (not new customers, not customers who went into an AT&T or Apple store).
Call AT&T or go an AT&T store and they will fix it right away.
Anyway, I got the email about the $30 iTunes credit today. It will be interesting to see if they leave it there or if they manage to mess up my already activated iPhone. :-) Just the wifi capability of the phone makes it worthwhile for me. With this I can do just about everything I would do with a laptop if I had one, and this fits in my pocket. Still, It was worth the wait for me.
There is an 866 number, for some customers, as well as an 800 number. When I called the first time they told me that since I was one of those that could use the 866 number I should use it. Anyway, my cell phone was about to die and I didn't want to call on it because I was anticipating delays. I ended up calling 611 on it and got right through. The lady was nice enough to call back on my other phone.
1) Call 800-331-0500
(2) Dial 0 and then 0 again
(3) Ask the customer rep to activate you.
(4) Give them your SIM Card # and IMEI. To find this quickly, go to "Settings" on your iPhone, click on "General," then "About." The "ICCID" is your SIM card and the one above that, IMEI is the other number they need.
(5) They will ask you to shut down your phone, wait 30 seconds and turn it on.
(6) When the phone turns back on, you should be activated.
Existing AT&T customers without a previous iPhone can't use their old SIM cards, so your "ease" does not translate to the people actually having the problem. Move along, willy.
As an existing non-iPhone customer who had the phone shipped to him, that's the problem.
Yet, they were still very, very helpful over the phone, very nice, both people I talked to were Americans (didn't have to explain things 3 times or spell simple words for them), had a nice conversation, and everything was fixed.
AT&T customer service kicks Sprint in the you know where (been there, through with Sprint), which is why I would never consider a Pre no matter how great people say it is.
Floppy disk? how about putting a cassette tape into your computer tape drive, starting a game loading, and coming back in 45 minutes when it was finished! "
I am not a programmer, other than some scripting, but I started out in graphics setting metal type into a composing stick.
I had a Collecovision Adam, and Buck Rogers was on tape... I think that was the only game I had on tape.
i was upgrading from a 3G phone and i bought my 3GS direct from Apple.com not Att.com and i used the sim that was already in the phone when it arrived
I am still stuck with a dead iPhone. I have received no e-mail from Apple or AT&T.
But after my 2.5 Hours dealing with both AT&T and Apple on the phone and a 1.5 Hour visit to the AT&T store, the guy at the AT&T store admitted on Saturday that my iPhone should work and I was good to go my account was all paid and current, no problems, go home have a nice day and wait.
Keep in mind this is on a 2G phone that I tried to upgrade to the new Apple iPhone Software 3.0 (update.) I have been a loyal GoPhone Prepaid customer with AT&T since 2007 when the first iPhone came out...
1. A small antenna doesn't preclude turn by turn nav. Think of it as 2 parts to the application:-
a) GPS Receiver. This tells us where we are.
b) Mapping software. This knows where we are (from the receiver) and where we'd like to go (from our human input), calculates a route and guides us there, using the GPS position to advise on upcoming junctions etc..
2. The GPS chipset inside the iPhone is actually a very good one (it is a bought in SiRF chip at $3.60 each, according to Apples BOM). It is quite capable of turn by turn navigation, and is used in many of the other phones with GPS you are talking about.
3. In short, if Apple don't allow turn by turn navigation in something like the TomTom/Garmin format (ie, no data connection needed) it isn't due to any technical reason. It's a purely business decision based on the Apple/AT&T' revenue
model.
Interestingly, according the the Bill of Materials, the 3G iPhone is costing Apple about $175 to build. This isn't including shipping, Advertising etc.. So where do we think their profit is coming from?
That's right - Data services.
Thousands of people paid for overnight delivery for a reason. The credit should be a credit on your Credit Card and an additional $30 dollar Credit on your card for the BS.
Apple has proved it isn't RIM once again. Keep with the games and toys. BlackBerry and Nokia sales never make the headlines for this BS.
This is why Apple will NEVER make it in corporate America or Corporate anywhere.
No comment doesn't cut it in the Business World and that is always Apples modo.
- by perlamijomelican June 22, 2009 12:00 AM PDT
- that's quite a nice gesture really, i wouldn't give you anything...
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- by ikramerica--2008 June 22, 2009 12:55 AM PDT
- Too true. No existing AT&T customer was left phoneless. While my 3Gs wasn't able to make or receive calls, my old phone was still working fine. So until it got sorted out, I had my old phone and the equivalent of an iPod Touch 32GB. It was rough, I tell you... ;)
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (71 Comments)the lesson learned is; don't throw out your old phone until the new one is working.