⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Apple Retail Stores say 'iPhone Problems Solved': Apple Loses its Shine



Apple iPhone owners are breathing easier today as activation problems that plagued yesterday's launch of the iPhone 3G have eased becoming just a painful memory. Yesterday Apple's activation servers just couldn't handle the thousands of simultaneous activations for new iPhone 3Gs. Compounding the problem were many of the estimated 6 million first generation iPhone users who logged on to Apple iTunes servers to update their phone's operating system to the 2.0 software.

Apple retail stores in Boston, Miami, and New York are reporting this Saturday activation problems have "been resolved." Apple support and user forums have also quieted with most contributors reporting successful activations today. Apple has also officially pushed out today an update to iPod Touch owners who had also reported problems Friday upgrading to the 2.0 OS. Ipod Touch users are also reporting successful updates.

Apple Loses its Shine

For Apple, the past 24 hours, was a disaster not only for its customers but for the Apple brand which is known for being customer oriented and for its technical excellence.

Activation problems prevented new iPhone users from using their phones, rendered old iPhone unusable, and served up error messages to iPod Touch owners. But Apple's problems were not tied exclusively to the iPhone activations. Apple is also taking heat for technical problems with its online storage and syncing service called MobileMe which launched this week.

What Went Wrong

Apple has made no official comment on the fiasco. But AT&T says Apple iTunes servers were overwhelmed around the globe yesterday. Apple tech support confirmed to iPhone customers calling in for technical assistance that Apple servers couldn't handle the flood of activations.
Problems started early for Apple with east coast morning in-store activations of the 3G iPhone taking about 15 minutes. Within hours lines at Apple and AT&T Wireless retail stores got longer as activations began taking longer. The problem, Apple servers were overwhelmed with activation requests. Soon servers failed to activate new iPhones and upgrade old ones.

Apple had hoped to avoid activation problems experienced last year by having staff perform the activation right in the store. But when activations began taking longer than one hour many AT&T Wireless employees directed iPhone users to activate their phones at home.
Last year AT&T was blamed for iPhone activation problems. This time around Apple is getting blamed. Granted last year the iPhone only launched in the U.S.. This time around the iPhone was released simultaneously in 22 countries.

Apple Enlists Police to Quell Crowd in U.K.

United States customers weren't the only frustrated iPhone customers. In the U.K. iPhone carrier O2 also had back-end server problems that brought iPhone 3G activations to a grinding halt.
An O2 spokeswoman told the IDG New Service it experienced some "IT hiccups," but everything was working normally by around 10.30 a.m. local time. However a Macworld UK report says police officers joined Apple staff to "effectively closed the London Apple Store Friday in the middle of the afternoon." To blame was O2's faulty registration system that was taking up to three hours to activate new iPhones. Instead of dealing with lengthy delays Apple decided to close the store in the middle of the afternoon.