Buying a new iPhone 3G S in twenty minutes

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The original iPhone defined a new height of spectacle in consumer electronics launches. With the release of the iPhone 3G S, Apple has managed to keep the media circus surrounding its new smartphones engaged for the third year in a row, and has greatly improved its in-store processing.



iPhone Frenzy: Part III

Who would have thought that, three years in, another iPhone model launch would draw lines and media?



I leisurely motored over to the downtown San Francisco store expecting no lines and no waiting, but after cycling around for parking and budgeting just twenty five cents for a parking meter, I saw that even the nearby AT&T store had a short line waiting for the iPhone.



AT&T's line even sported a barricade and signage indicating that the only people who need bother wait in line are those who set up an iPhone order in advance.







A block away at the Apple store, camera crews with a satellite uplink were still covering the "launch event" hours after the store opened. There were two lines: the priority line for pre-screened users and a walkup line for everyone else.









Workers were milling around asking people if they were on the list, and offering coffee, hot cocoa, bottles of water, and apparently Noah's Bagels from a catering cart.







Nearer the door, three heavyweight security guards menacingly blocked the path of anyone trying to jump the line. I asked one of them if it was a rough crowd they were dealing with. He laughed and said no, then got really serious about how nobody was getting in without authorization from the girl holding the guest list.







Twenty minute turnaround

I was a bit worried about getting in and out with just a quarter on my meter. Fortunately, that quarter had bought me an hour of motorcycle parking rather than 5 minutes of car parking. But before I could ask for a bagel, a store employee came out, introduced himself by name, and whisked me into the store to set me up.



The phone purchase went smoothly, and after being set up with a plan, I was handed off to another employee who similarly introduced himself as if he were arranging my VIP bottle service in a club. Instead, he simply plugged the new phone into an iMac and did the initial activation step.



In twenty minutes, I was back at my bike with another forty minutes of a paid parking space. My old phone was already taken out of service but the new phone was still not showing any signs of life in detecting AT&T.







By the time I got home 20 minutes later, however, the new phone was already receiving text messages and ready to go. After a quick restore of my previous apps and configuration, it was ready to use. About forty minutes after placing my first phone call, the new phone popped up a messaging indicating that the phone was activated.



The iPhone activation situation

In its iPhone partnership with AT&T, Apple has learned a few things over the last couple years. The company first started out with a device that broke convention in the mobile industry: it sold without a direct subsidy, allowing users to take their new phone home and set it up themselves.



In order to bring the marketed price of the iPhone 3G in line with other models sold for $200 or less, and sometimes for "free" with a contract, Apple conceded to standard in-store activations that tied the phone to the user's existing or new contract, allowing buyers a $200-$400 discount.



The problem with in-store activations is that lots of accounts had complications: business plans, family plans, credit and qualification problems and so on. The long lines of users were slowed dramatically by users who needed extra help.



This year, Apple and AT&T teamed up to take pre-orders, screening users for any potential problems well in advance. The result on launch day was two lines: a priority line for pre-screened users, the other for people who just walked up to buy a phone.



As a result, lines moved faster and users without problems were handled on an express track. There have also been improvements made to the sometimes flakey Easy Pay systems that Apple retail store employees reply on to ring up sales, and back end fixes to help speed processing with fewer problems.



Users trying to get set up at AT&T stores or phones they received in the mail have reported more glitches, such as a longer wait for service activation.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 78
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    costco figured this out when the added people to put away your stuff at the checkout



    it's better to pay an extra person and serve more people faster to ring up more revenue than to keep a bare minimum of people to save costs and have people leave and not buy anything at all
  • Reply 2 of 78
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    I must have missed the theads on how "many iPhone ads in the papers", "getting your iPhone to talk to you", "which celebrities own the iPhone", "you iPhone is your new best friend", etc.



    Apple news , dudes, "real" Apple news.
  • Reply 3 of 78
    neonsoxneonsox Posts: 5member
    Some of us who preordered a week ago at an AT&T store are still waiting for our phones to show up at the store. Pre-ordering didn't give any priority at all.
  • Reply 4 of 78
    ivan.rnn01ivan.rnn01 Posts: 1,822member
    Me thinking AI've flown a bit off the handle in displaying Pre ads.
  • Reply 5 of 78
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Good grief. It's so stupid how people are lining up for these phones. One day! Just wait ONE FREAKING DAY and there won't be lines.



    the GOTTA HAVE IT NOW crowd is hilarious.



    (and I'm talking mainly about the people camping out for it)
  • Reply 6 of 78
    Walked in to AT&T at 7:30 picked up my pre-ordered 3G s, activated it, ported the number from my 3G, ported the new number from the 3Gs to the 3G, signed a couple things and walked out at 7:50.
  • Reply 7 of 78
    c4rlobc4rlob Posts: 277member
    AT&T makes you setup your voicemail password again manually.

    The whole setup process happens so automatically it catches you off-guard when you eventually try to access voicemail several hours later and have to try and remember your voicemail password.
  • Reply 8 of 78
    jupiteronejupiterone Posts: 1,564member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    I must have missed the theads on how "many iPhone ads in the papers", "getting your iPhone to talk to you", "which celebrities own the iPhone", "you iPhone is your new best friend", etc.



    Apple news , dudes, "real" Apple news.



    I'm sure if those threads existed, you'd visit each one of them to comment.....as you have done to all of the existing ones.
  • Reply 9 of 78
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01 View Post


    Me thinking AI've flown a bit off the handle in displaying Pre ads.



    Blood money!
  • Reply 10 of 78
    jkozjkoz Posts: 48member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by neonsox View Post


    Some of us who preordered a week ago at an AT&T store are still waiting for our phones to show up at the store. Pre-ordering didn't give any priority at all.



    I got mine delivered to my house. That's plenty of priority for me. Didn't have to get in my car at all.



    Is getting it five hours earlier at the store that big a deal to that many people still?
  • Reply 11 of 78
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member
    I went during lunch to Memorial City Mall in Houston, left about a little over an hour later. Good to go. Although this year I didn't see a camera crew and get on TV in HD.....
  • Reply 12 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by chronster View Post


    Good grief. It's so stupid how people are lining up for these phones. One day! Just wait ONE FREAKING DAY and there won't be lines.



    the GOTTA HAVE IT NOW crowd is hilarious.



    Why would you care what others are doing? I just don't get that. People wait in lines for concert tickets to their favorite band or show all the time. For some it's part of the fun and of course gets you the phone right away. In this case it's more important than a concert ticket or show cause it's something you'll spend tons of time on daily for work and personal use. I just don't understand all the worry about what others do and why some have to try to make themselves feel better by putting down others for doing something they enjoy when it sure as hell doesn't affect them.



    On a lighter note... I did go at 6:30AM this morning to an Apple Store in Minnetonka, MN and was surprised at how short the wait was. Of course with Best Buy and Walmart now selling the phone along with the home delivery option it's not all that much of a surprise. Doors opened at 7AM and me, my girlfriend and a buddy were all out of there by 7:20AM and didn't have any issues with activations.



    All in all it was a great experience. The employees were helpful, fast and most of all knowledgeable.



    As for my favorite new features... I'd have to say landscape keyboard across all apps (specifically mail and texting), the new video recording that works perfectly with iMovie btw and the new way Google maps shows you the direction you're actually going (can't wait for TomTom).
  • Reply 13 of 78
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by chronster View Post


    Good grief. It's so stupid how people are lining up for these phones. One day! Just wait ONE FREAKING DAY and there won't be lines.



    the GOTTA HAVE IT NOW crowd is hilarious.



    I think a more appropriate word is pathetic.



    Wait til they start whining about each and every flaw- "the plastic cracks!", "the screen is too slippery!", "it's too hot!", "video drains my battery!", "my bill is too high!", etc.



    I'm sure we'll have a thread for each and every whine too.
  • Reply 14 of 78
    pkstreetpkstreet Posts: 21member
    I waited over an hour and a half outside my local Apple store and couldn't pick up my two reserved phones. At the rate they were moving, it would have taken 3-4 hours. It was activation issues I think that slowed them down. Glad you had a different experience. I'll try again later. For me it was a disappointment compared to 2007 launch.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The original iPhone defined a new height of spectacle in consumer electronics launches. With the release of the iPhone 3G S, Apple has managed to keep the media circus surrounding its new smartphones engaged for the third year in a row, and has greatly improved its in-store processing.



    iPhone Frenzy: Part III

    Who would have thought that, three years in, another iPhone model launch would draw lines and media?



    I leisurely motored over to the downtown San Francisco store expecting no lines and no waiting, but after cycling around for parking and budgeting just twenty five cents for a parking meter, I saw that even the nearby AT&T store had a short line waiting for the iPhone.........







  • Reply 15 of 78
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    I just bought my 16GB iPhone 3GS from the Apple store for $400!!

    I have a few words for AT&T...



    SCREW YA! CAN'T WAIT TO DITCH YA!
  • Reply 16 of 78
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloggerblog View Post


    I just bought my 16GB iPhone 3GS from the Apple store for $400!!

    I have a few words for AT&T...



    SCREW YA! CAN'T WAIT TO DITCH YA!



    Well- why didn't ya? $400 for a renewal phone? AT&T is brilliant!
  • Reply 17 of 78
    jkozjkoz Posts: 48member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloggerblog View Post


    I just bought my 16GB iPhone 3GS from the Apple store for $400!!

    I have a few words for AT&T...



    SCREW YA! CAN'T WAIT TO DITCH YA!



    I don't understand why you would have paid that kind of money if you hate them so much
  • Reply 18 of 78
    bigmc6000bigmc6000 Posts: 767member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jkoz View Post


    I don't understand why you would have paid that kind of money if you hate them so much



    +1 - makes no sense - no one is forcing anyone to upgrade or pay the early adopter fee. He chose to pay that fee - deal with it.
  • Reply 19 of 78
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jkoz View Post


    I don't understand why you would have paid that kind of money if you hate them so much



    Haven't you ever heard of the "I wish I could quit you" syndrome?
  • Reply 20 of 78
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01 View Post


    Me thinking AI've flown a bit off the handle in displaying Pre ads.



    That isn?t AI?s doing. It?s Google Ad[MakesNo]Sense.
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