iPhone glitches derail Apple's launch event magic

Dale Larson, the first person in the iPhone 3G line at the Apple store in San Francisco, deals with activation headaches Friday morning.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)

Apple's singular ability to whip up consumer frenzy might be in trouble after the debacle that was Friday's iPhone 3G launch.

Server problems turned this year's iPhone 3G launch into an exercise in patience for Apple fans and employees, as eager buyers faced waits of up to two hours to get their iPhone 3Gs activated in Apple stores, and many left with iPhone 3Gs in hand but the activation process incomplete. The same problems affected original iPhone owners trying to install the iPhone 2.0 software, turning their handsets into "iBricks."

The company had promised customers the iPhone 3G activation process would take around 10 minutes to 15 minutes, but only a lucky few spent that little time in stores in both New York and San Francisco. The entire system ground to a halt around 8:30 a.m. PDT, as Apple's iTunes servers went down in what appeared to be a massive flood of traffic.

Despite it all, the lines in New York and San Francisco--numbering several hundred strong--were well-behaved and patient as they inched along the sidewalk, although CNET's Josh Lowensohn reported that a fight broke out at an AT&T store in Emeryville, Calif. After all, most of these people are Apple's biggest fans, and were standing in line not just because they loved the product, but for the camaraderie of their fellow geeks.

But a large part of Apple's marketing strategy depends on these early adopters spreading the gospel to their friends and family about the wonderful products and services offered by Apple. No one is complaining about the product, but the service left a lot to be desired, and some of Apple's best customers left its stores fuming this morning after their experience.

Apple employees mill about as they wait for the iTunes servers to come back online.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News.com)

Time out
So, what exactly happened? The issue appeared to involve the huge stress placed on the iTunes infrastructure as countries around the world attempted to activate new iPhones or upgrade old iPhones.

The launch appeared to go smoothly in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, but as the sun traveled across the earth, the issues began to emerge. O2, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.K., ran into huge problems activating iPhones through iTunes. Macworld U.K. reported that O2's Web activation process requires Windows and Internet Explorer: which is obviously a problem when trying to activate an iPhone in an Apple store.

The problems multiplied as people in the U.S. woke up and began purchasing their iPhone 3Gs and downloading the iPhone 2.0 software. The process was slow, but moving in New York as the launch got under way. However, there were early signs that things were just as bad in the U.S. as they were in the U.K.: the first person to emerge with an iPhone 3G at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York was actually 75th in line to start the day.

By the time San Francisco hit the 8 a.m. hour, the launch process had ground to a halt. The first customers let into the downtown San Francisco Apple store were initially told that AT&T's activation process had failed for about 30 minutes between 8 and 8:30 a.m. PDT, which AT&T later denied, pointing the finger squarely at Apple.

"To the best of my knowledge AT&&T servers did not crash," said Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. "The issue was that when customers got to the last step in the activation process, which was to sync the phone with iTunes, the Apple servers were so overwhelmed that we couldn't complete the last step in the process in the stores. "So we started telling customers to go home and try syncing their iPhones from home."

Apple store employees acknowledged that iTunes was the main source of the problems: "This is really frustrating," said one employee inside the Apple store, as she tried to activate an iPhone over and over. Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment on what exactly happened to the iTunes infrastructure, and an Apple public relations representative outside the San Francisco store did not answer repeated questions about what was causing the delay.

Damage control
Apple quickly started to try and make amends. Dale Larson, the first person in line in San Francisco, was given a free 16GB iPhone 3G after he waited two and a half hours (which, to be fair, was caused in part by the San Francisco police asking him to move his tent) for his iPhone 3G to activate. He said Apple store employees spent two hours on the phone with executives at Apple headquarters in Cupertino trying to figure out what to do.

Some customers were sent e-mails from the company, which one Crave reader reproduced in our comments. "Due to network congestion on the iTunes server, you may not be able to update or restore the software on your iPhone. Once the congestion has decreased the software should be available for you to update. It would be advisable to attempt the update later on today."

Apple found itself fending off sharp criticism from bloggers and fans normally in love with the company. Gizmodo won headline of the day contest with "It's the iPocalypse," while others on the Web and through microblogging sites like Twitter and FriendFeed vented their frustration for the world to see.

On CNET, decameron9 left this comment: "Server crashes, bandwidth problems...acceptable if this was a sudden, unforeseeable demand on resources. Not in this case - or in any case with a product launch. I doubt Jobs just woke up this morning and announced the 3G or (the) 2,0 upgrade....it's been in the works for months."

A long line stretches away from the Apple store at 11 a.m., three hours after the doors first opened.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News.com)

Fallout
Apple has made a fortune over the past several years with a two-pronged approach to consumer technology. First, make a product that's easy to use and understand. Second, make that product into a phenomenon--a status symbol that evokes an elevated level of technology sophistication and class--through clever marketing and superior customer service.

A large part of that second step has involved meticulously planned and perfectly executed events that make people feel like they are experiencing history, not just a product launch. Last year's iPhone launch event was perhaps the pinnacle of that strategy, as several million people came to a virtual standstill on June 29, 2007, to watch a company launch a phone. Unfortunately for Apple, several million people came to a standstill again this year: in line waiting for the iPhone 3G, or at home trying to activate their original iPhone.

On Friday, Apple lost some of the luster that has adorned its star since the iPod turned into an icon. It will always have a dedicated group of supporters who believe in what the company is trying to do, and who have been with Apple through thick and thin. Most people, however, are much more fickle. And after today, they'll think twice before waiting for hours to be the first one to snap up an Apple product.

That doesn't at all suggest that the company's long-term prospects are diminished: sales of the Mac, iPod, and iPhone will continue to grow, especially among the younger demographic. And Apple's servers had already started to recover by Friday afternoon, meaning that iPhone sales should proceed once the people who weren't going to wait in line anyway start buying.

But Apple disappointed a huge, influential chunk of its customers today with its performance during the iPhone 3G launch, and proved it's just as fallible as any other company. That might take more than a $100 store credit to fix.

[tekwiz4u]

Wow...crashed servers. Lets do a breakdown on this breakdown. 1) VERY BAD IDEA for In-Store activation. Whoever came up with that idea should be fired. This very news OVERSHADOWS everything about the iPhone launch. 2) Poor planning on the capacity. More than 3 COUNTRIES are going to hit the servers. AND HIT IT HARD!!!! Did they have any clue on load balancing the servers, or dedicate a huge cluster of them for this functionality? Guess not! 3) iTUNES update with 2.0. After everything that's going on, MORE traffic for the servers for grabbing the latest 1st gen firmware. Why give it out TODAY?!!!!!

3 STRIKES...YOU'RE OUT PAL!

I have the older iPhone, but patience will be on my side when I hold out for a couple of weeks.

[sting7k]

Not much different than last year, remember at that time AT&T activation was actually down, it was taking hours to get the phones to activate at home.

This year though it was apple. I showed up to my AT&T store at 11:30pm, yes they were sold out. But there were about 20 people still there waiting to activate their iphones. There were other customers in there getting other phones (gasp) and activating with no problems, iTunes wasn't responding at all on their computers. They were on the phone with some reps going through tons of stuff trying to get it to work. I ended up just ordering one which should arrive in a few days, and give me time to prepare my old one to be sold.

[technewsjunkie]

Big deal. People were delayed in activating.

Is this a mountain, or a mole hill. DUE TO INTERNATIONAL DEMAND the servers crashed. Unacceptable but I can't say I'm shocked.

[MTWTFSS]

I was number 30 in line and after 25 minutes none of the first people in line came out of the store. I said goodbye and will wait for the Samsung Omnia. Nice plan there Steve.

[tspencer23]

Actually it IS a big deal. Because the activation problem is NOT the only one you're going to experience with this "upgrade". And even after you think your nifty iBrick is fixed you may be in for a surprise. Let me 'splain, Lucy.

Even after I finally got my iPhone to re-activate late this afternoon the device is still badly crippled. None of the apps I downloaded from the app store yesterday work. I tap the icon, they pop up... and then they immediately disappear.

But that's not that big a deal, right? I mean, we've survived without third party apps this long, what's a little longer right? I consoled myself with that thought as I plugged in my headphones to listen to a little calming music on the ride home.

Except for one problem - NONE of the music I've previously purchased on the iTunes store will play now. All I get is dead air over the headphones. Music I've ripped from CDs still plays fine. The iTunes songs do not play. At all.

Apple has screwed the pooch in a major way on this one. And I'm betting these problems are only the tip of the iceberg.

The gods punish hubris, Mr. Jobs.

[MTGrizzly]

I just got an iPod Touch 16GB on Wednesday. Of course, the first thing it did was "update" to, I think, v1.1.7. Took nearly 3 hours. I was disappointed with the wait, but it finally came through.

I am waiting on the 2.0 software.

I would have an iPhone if Apple would make a deal with a provider that serves Montana. Until then, I will live with my iPod Touch and spend my entire day watching YouTube... LOL

[Xtoo]

I agree. I would never update on the first few hours, but still Apple did screw up. They made it a point to let everyone know that the phone, the software update, the activation and application store was launched today on top of that add various countries. They should have known better.

Steve Jobs did say this was the biggest launch of his career. This gotta suck for him but he should have planned better. In the end when all pretty iPhones start working as they should everyone will forget.

By the way... I think this was Tom's best article so far. Way to go!!!!

[i_puck]

The long awaited scam Iphone aka IPUCK, let me wait in line 6 hours to stop me at the door and inform me (the next in line) that the remaining phones are reserved. ***!!!! AT&T put out no reservations at all and this is a stipulation of apple. Does the owner of the AT&T store in Victorville, CA care no!!! they would not only sell me one of the phones that they had left but the manager the spineless worm would not even come out to talk to me. That goes to show you that AT&T in Victorville, CA is only out to make a buck no matter how. They are illegally selling phones to the highest bidder and then holding them until they come in to pick them up.
Stay away from the crooks at
AT&T 12602 Amargosa Road
Victorville, CA 92392
[phone]

[laramie_chris]

This whole debacle was Apple's fault. I was at an ATT store hoping to avoid glitches when they announced that they had only 55 phones. All of the first 55 in line got phones that were activated and on there way in less than an hour. All the rest of us were told to come back tomorrow that they would have some more. Meanwhile Apple stores had hundreds of phones and an untrained workforce that had difficulty communicating with ATT servers (ATT stores were not having this problem because they are already on the ATT system). My question is this... why not distribute the phones more evenly? ATT stores had staff and know-how in place after an hour they all went home and the rest of us had to suffer at the hands of Apple. I was in line at ATT at 7:15am and missed the last phone by one person (not joking) it wasn't until 3:30pm that I got one at an Apple store after having waited in line all day, sometimes the line didn't even move for over two hours. Nice one Apple! I put the blame squarely on your shoulders, with such high demand you should have let ATT help out a little more, after all they are the phone company, not you... stick to what you are good at!

[laramie_chris]

This whole debacle was Apple's fault. I was at an ATT store hoping to avoid glitches when they announced that they had only 55 phones. All of the first 55 in line got phones that were activated and on there way in less than an hour. All the rest of us were told to come back tomorrow that they would have some more. Meanwhile Apple stores had hundreds of phones and an untrained workforce that had difficulty communicating with ATT servers (ATT stores were not having this problem because they are already on the ATT system). My question is this... why not distribute the phones more evenly? ATT stores had staff and know-how in place after an hour they all went home and the rest of us had to suffer at the hands of Apple. I was in line at ATT at 7:15am and missed the last phone by one person (not joking) it wasn't until 3:30pm that I got one at an Apple store after having waited in line all day, sometimes the line didn't even move for over two hours. Nice one Apple! I put the blame squarely on your shoulders, with such high demand you should have let ATT help out a little more, after all they are the phone company, not you... stick to what you are good at!

[anon8mizer]

Apple is a product company. It's a hardware company. It's not a service company. They know nothing about service scalability.

Does anybody remember how slow their Developer site got when their iPhone SDK first came out? You couldn't download the SDK for the first few hours because of the load. Same thing is happening again.

And now they want you to depend on their MobileMe service? And now they want you to only go to the iPhone App Store to get your applications?

Forget it.

[anon8mizer]

Apple is a product company. It's a hardware company. It's not a service company. They know nothing about service scalability.

Does anybody remember how slow their Developer site got when their iPhone SDK first came out? You couldn't download the SDK for the first few hours because of the load. Same thing is happening again.

And now they want you to depend on their MobileMe service? And now they want you to only go to the iPhone App Store to get your applications?

Forget it.

[blackskyview]

So much for business process engineering, let alone Apples iTunes enterprise, a little more effort in reviewing the past iphone launch and some real network planning would have gone a long way in avoiding these glitches. If it's any consolation to those who have experienced these set backs- todays San Antonio Express news Business section was extolling the vertues of the new iphone, (Rember this is home to AT&T Corporate) and what do they use as a photo for the new 3G iphone? why of couse the SAMSUNG Instinct , Jobs wont' sleep well tonight.

[sfo-syd]

The launch failed in Australia too. Apple failed in follow through--however, I don't even any business trying to partner with phone companies. Issues in Sydney: 1) phones at most locations were never available unless you pre-ordered them. thus, showing up early in the a.m. for a phone was a complete waste of time. 2) not sure if this was Apple's idotic policy or Optus'. . .to order a phone to arrive in 2 weeks, one had to sign up for a contract right then. if you're coming from a different carrier, then your current phone would be disabled until the iPhone arrived s(upposedly in 2 weeks). how could any member of Apple's early adopter market, much less target market, go without a phone for 2 weeks. oh, and cheap loner phones just become an hourly reminder that one got ******! 3) the one carrier here who has the appropriate 3G coverage didn't release prices until midnight--and the prices were multiples higher than anything else--ha, ha, Telsra's server that port numbers over to competitors crashed. Hopefully, Apple and the carriers all learn something about testing the system and getting market feedback in each market before launch next time...in fact, it may be helpful for them to do it now.

[johnqh]

I don't know why this surpises people.

Right after WWDC when Jobs announced iPhone, apple.com was inaccessible for hours. The iPhone SDK was impossible to download. Last year, many couldn't activate for days.

Any other companies would love to have that as a problem.

Scalability costs money. The pend-up demand is probably 50x the normal traffic, and to scale to that point, the cost is probably 200x more. Anyone who has experienced any of the later Apple launches would simply wait for a couple of days and everything will smoothen out.

However, Apple bears some responsibilities too, with launching everything on the same day. They can easily lessen the load by releasing iTunes 7.7 one week earlier and 2.0 for the original iPhone one week later.

[Movieman1942]

House of Cards, Houston, we have a problem and I want a free iPhone 3G. I left my home at 3am to drive 50 miles to get a 3G iPhone. I was going to replace my old iPhone. All the above problems happened ( those listed by every one else) I came home, without my NEW iPhone and tried to download 2.0 for my iTouch, Nothing. Same for my old iPhone. Called Apple and surprise, after 15 mins. I actually go to talk to a real person who told me the terrible news. " We have CRASHED and BURNED."
I could smell the smoke over the phone . Try us later he says, much later. ( Maybe I will go back to Alltel, at least they have streaming video.)

[pbbrooks]

I feel compelled to remind every individual complaining (whining) about their experience today - you chose this. You did this to yourself. For what? Those of you who successfully acquired an iPhone today - are you a better person for it? Was it worth the time and frustration? I've repeatedly heard that the underlying motivation behind being in the middle of of today's debacle was to be part of something. All those hours you spent being part of something could have been spent volunteering or otherwise helping others.

I will get an iPhone 3G. I'll stroll into a store in a few weeks and be on my way in 15 or 20 minutes. I will not have missed out on anything, nor will I be a better person for having it. Finally, those who got one today will not be better than me for having gotten one earlier.

[bungledung]

Apparently, no one is perfect. Take a warm bubble bath or punch code into a computer and let it simmer. Tomorrow is a new day. Too bad Apple couldn't do a better job, but then again hindsight is 20/20. I just can't wait to pack into a crowded subway and play games on my iPod. I still don't get camping out to be the first ones to get a toy?

[ereal2000]

The Iphone is a great product but I will not buy it for a couple of reasons. Not able to replace the battery by yourself. I will not pay the price att wants. I would prefer it was offered by other providers besides att.

[csg7]

I am sure Apple fanboys would be speechless for days to come as there 'God company' who gave them the 'Jesus phone' did a huge blunder today. Unheard of for the last few years. How can you not anticipate and prepare for this kind of expected load !!?
Look at this story too ...http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-9989240-92.html?hhTest=1&tag=nefd.top

This was long overdue as Apple like any other big company falters at some point. The trouble is that the 'fanboys' think that companies like Apple and Google can do no wrong. Microsoft and IBM 'did no wrong' for a long time too before their blunders !
I guess this should stop the comparisions, at least for sometime.

Still love the iPhone though !!