Version: 2008

Comments on: AT&T iPhone activation contractor: "Extremely pleased" with results

Synchronoss, the New Jersey-based company that has a contract with AT&T to handle iPhone activation, says it is "extremely pleased" with the way the iPhone activations went.

"Extremely Pleased"
by jamesob5 July 2, 2007 3:25 AM PDT
That's good...I'm glad their pleased. I, on the other hand am not
pleased. I've been waiting 58 hours to get the iBrick to activate.

I'm extremely pissed!!!
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30 seconds
by stenar July 2, 2007 3:49 AM PDT
My activation only took 30 seconds and none of my friends had
activations that took longer than 5 minutes.
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Breakthrough customer (self-)service
by rgunther July 2, 2007 4:31 AM PDT
My Saturday online activation was slow, but painless - and certainly easier than standing at an AT&T store while they process all of their paperwork. I was astounded how easy it was. This software sets a new standard in customer self-serve processing.
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extremely pleased
by 1st July 2, 2007 6:23 AM PDT
"The president and chief executive of Synchronoss Technologies
Inc., which provides software and services that manage
customer service for businesses, sold 10,250 shares of common
stock under a prearranged trading plan, according to a
Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In three Form 4s filed with the SEC Monday, Stephen G. Waldis
reported he sold the shares Thursday for $27.71 to $28.78
apiece.

The stock sale was conducted under a prearranged 10b5-1
trading plan which allows a company insider to set up a program
in advance for such transactions and proceed with them even if
he or she comes into possession of material nonpublic
information.

Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their
companies' shares. Open market purchases and sales must be
reported within two business days of the transaction.

Synchronoss is based in Bridgewater, N.J.

______

Questions or comments about this story should be directed to
AP Financial News at 212-621-7190
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"Well, allow me to retort!"
by jakinner July 2, 2007 6:37 AM PDT
? "This weekend set a new bar for the communications space and introduced an activation approach that shifted the paradigm to activate phones in the comfort of a customer's home or office."

Okay, I'll agree with this. It is a great concept to have a phone "on the rack" at the retailer, take it home, personalize it, and get it working all by yourself. Kudos to the design team.

? "The OVERWHELMING majority of the people who activated the iPhone had a fast and seamless experience and were 'breezing' through it in minutes."

I'd be very interested in what the term "overwhelming majority" means. Let's take it like this: A majority is over 50%. So, let's assume that some number over 2/3 have had no problem.

? "The amount of exceptions that were received, a normal activity in any activation, was much smaller than expected. Some of these processes require other third parties."

Okay, this is the key statement. Taking the "2/3" number from above, let's assume they expected 50% of the people to have problems (surely, not what they actually calculated, but bear with me). Given that, 2/3 going through is "smaller than expected" exceptions. Now, here's my problem: if AT&T and this company expected a certain number of exceptions, and IF that number was truly "smaller than expected", then why are the activation support folks (1) clueless about the process of which they are a part, and (2) completely unable to cope with the volume of exceptions?

No matter how you slice this, AT&T really messed up big time. Also, this is not the proper way to do failure analysis. Calculating the impact of failure is more like this:

number of failures * cost/impact of each failure

Considering how glaring the failures of the activation process are, why can't these companies just ADMIT THEY MESSED UP and let us all know HOW THEY ARE GOING TO FIX IT/MAKE UP FOR IT? I thought this was PR-101???

? "Synchronoss is extremely pleased with the way its software performed. It exceeded expectations."

I'm so happy for your software, Synchronoss. Did you know it was interacting with actual people who wasted actual time when your software FAILED THEM?
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Lots of assumptions in your retort
by shoffmueller July 2, 2007 8:05 AM PDT
You're retort is filled with made up numbers. "Let's assume that..." I read that the failure rate was about 2%. (that might be made up too by this company). Still pretty high considering the volume (2% of millions is alot)

But Syncrhonoss isn't going to ramp up their processing capacity for a one-weekend spike. So, they likely expected a percentage failure and agreed with att/apple to live with it in the short term. A month from now, when levels are way down, registration will probably be flawless.

Still feel for those whose excitement turned to frustration, though. One of the reasons to wait with a product like this till the kinks get worked out.
Please don't post things you don't know about...
by CannuckComment July 2, 2007 9:46 AM PDT
How can you possibly make such assumptions?
You do realize that most people only post/complain when
things go wrong. How many people do you think had a great
experience, without any problem and don't say anything??

Let me guess...you waited in line for hours and hours, and were
upset that you didn't get activated right away. Sure, that would
make me angry to, but come on, be fair. How many things
happen totally seamlessly that you don't even realize or thank
the people that make it happen.

Be realistic.
Only 2 years ago you couldn't port your number, and it took
hours and a paper application form to get your phone working,
which sometimes took days.
You know not what you say...
by lkrupp July 2, 2007 10:15 AM PDT
Where in the world are you coming up with your numbers? Your
southern most orifice?

Analysts were estimating 2% of iPhone buyers having
authentication errors or delays. That's pretty good in my
opinion. Of course the one's having the problems are screaming
at the top of their lungs.

It looks like you're just an iPhone basher looking for something,
anything, to complain about.
View reply
WTF ... WT "LIVING" F!!!!!
by Thomas, David July 2, 2007 10:14 AM PDT
To have the idiots who were part of the problem tell everyone else
how pleased they are about how it went?!!! ***!!!! ***!???!

No
shame, no sense ... this feels just like those smug H1B defrauding
lawyers who stated "the aren't breaking any laws".

***?
!

LOL ... I can't stop thinking "***!!!!!?""

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To Be Fair
by Thomas, David July 2, 2007 10:18 AM PDT
They were not the only issue. Existing AT&T customers were the
main reason activations were, and are still being held up.
Probably archaic methods are being employed.

But COME ON,
these guys should not have commented at ALL. Not with
thousands out of service.

Also to be Fair
by Thomas, David July 2, 2007 10:54 AM PDT
They didn't control the whole process.

They still should have
kept their mouths shut. Unless they felt they were about the
receive all of the blame, in which case I could understand.

This is starting to get interesting.

That wasn't a response, it was a press release
by M C July 2, 2007 10:51 AM PDT
I don't care HOW much "better than expected" the weekend went for this company, the fact that its CEO can't also take responsibility for its failures means that the company "sets a new bar" in poor customer service.
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New paradigm?
by mypalmike July 2, 2007 12:22 PM PDT
"shifted the paradigm to activate phones in the comfort of a customer's home or office"

Hasn't this been a common approach since the dawn of time? I know I did this with my first Sprint cell phone about 6 years ago.
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