Comments on: Apple iPhone Launch Full Of Fail

By: 32Gb iPod touch & 16Gb iPhone Added : Digital-Lifestyles (alpha remix)

32Gb iPod touch & 16Gb iPhone Added : Digital-Lifestyles (alpha remix) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:14:36 +0000

[...] have maintained that the iPhone hasn’t sold in the UK as well as it did in the UK, although many Apple fans dispute this … sometimes pretty [...]

By: Iphone Curiosity - Page 5 - Nokia N95Users

Iphone Curiosity - Page 5 - Nokia N95Users — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:48:49 +0000

[...] utter wazzocks can be quickly identified and – where appropriate – persecuted? A: It does.

By: How long can we last ppl? - Page 5 - Nokia N95Users

How long can we last ppl? - Page 5 - Nokia N95Users — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:58:00 +0000

[...] the fact that by launching the iPhone, they’ve taken a massive hit! … Rather than had one! This report seems to sum it up quite neatly… NOTE! You MUST read the "Technology Clinic: Your iPhone [...]

By: doom76

doom76 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:25:05 +0000

actually LOL at all of this.
Who really cares how well the iphone is doing?
It’s a great piece of technology marred only by a (currently) horribly-restricted OS.
Why not allow “special features” pn the iphone, like the luxury of being able to send contacts? send or recieve MMS? Or even copy + paste? How about multiple recipitents for SMS messages or even (crazy I know) push email???

The reality is that this is a device that cost a shitload to develop, by a company who want to recoup their costs by controlling the way it is used. I’ll be surprised if apple will make anything on the £269 RRP, so, like all other phone companies, they have to tie you into a BS contract in order to make a return.

The lack of (basic) functionality usually expected of a phone, let alone a “breakthrough device” will surely be rectified by the very software updates designed to cripple any users who attempt to hack software and breach apples contractual agreement.

FYI I dont own an iphone, nor am I an apple fanboy or basher. I just read it like it is.

By: Simon Perry

Simon Perry — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:40:01 +0000

@Melanie – thanks for giving us the ‘inside view’ from O2. For clarity, I don’t think Mike was saying that the extra staff had been made redundant (ie lost their jobs), just that they weren’t used as heavily as expected (ie hiring the extra staff wasn’t necessary).

More generally – I went into the Carphone Warehouse in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight at the weekend and heard that they had a queue of three people on the launch day! – which surprised me, as I didn’t think they’d have had any queue at all. They also reported that people we rather excited to get their hands on the phones.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:23:54 +0000

Mike: in response to your repeated “1400 reduntant staff” – I’m actually one of the staff hired by o2, trained specifically to deal with the ipone, and my department has been kept extremely busy since the launch of the iphone. The phones have been ringing off the hook with people trying to activate their iphones, and so far no one (to my knowledge) has been made reduntant…

By: Mike Slocombe

Mike Slocombe — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:50:50 +0000

Sales figures now filtering in – and those 1,400 hired-in staff must have been very redundant!

“Phone sales were below tabloid guesstimates of 100,000 (The Sun & The Guardian) and 70,000 (The Mirror) – Erskine said the number was in the “tens of thousands”…

“That’s probably not what O2 was thinking when it hired 1,400 extra staff ahead of the launch to cope with “unprecedented” demand. Apple’s retail partners even shut up shop ahead of the launch on Friday afternoon to prepare for the crush.

So how well did the iPhone really do at the weekend?

Carphone Warehouse, with over 1,000 stores in the UK, did most of the heavy lifting. O2 has 300 high street shops here and Apple just 12. A channel source tells us that Carphone took stock of 50,000 but only shifted around 11,000.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/13/iphone_aftermath_some_numbers/

By: Mike Slocombe

Mike Slocombe — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:04:23 +0000

La: I have not made a single negative remark about the iPhone in the article, so kindly take the time to read it again properly before consigning me to the (oh no!) “Bozo column.”

Thanks!

By: La

La — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:37:38 +0000

The slight poison you injected in your comments on the “iphone failure” post shows your biased, ignorant and envious. I am listing this blogs in the Bozo column.

By: Simon Perry

Simon Perry — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:11:06 +0000

@Ardaz – oh happy day!

As far as “turncoat duplicity” – do you mind if I register that as a domain?

By: will

will — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:10:42 +0000

Gentlemen, you’ve completely failed to make your case. Relying on the opinions of punters and pundits is no way to make an argument; facts are.

By: Ardaz

Ardaz — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:05:30 +0000

So, Mike – shall we applaud your miserable, cynical, Scrooge-like mindset instead?
As far as I remember, Apple said nothing about sales expectations or anything else in the lead-up to it’s release. they left that to the rather fevered press to whip up a storm of publicity which said press duly shoots down in a fit of self justification and pique. Lol, you quote the Telegraph as an ally??
Hmmn… you just about fit the same turncoat duplicity. Really, really, well done….NOT!

By: University Update - Apple iPhone - Apple iPhone Launch Full Of Fail

University Update - Apple iPhone - Apple iPhone Launch Full Of Fail — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:49:19 +0000

[...] Apple iPhone Launch Full Of Fail » This Summary is from an article posted at Digital-Lifestyles (alpha remix) on Monday, November [...]

By: Mike Slocombe

Mike Slocombe — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:41:26 +0000

Will: I’d say O2 hiring in 1,400 mainly redundant extra staff and stores needlessly erecting crash barriers to deal with non existent queues would suggest that the launch didn’t quite match up the massively hyped expectations.

You’re welcome to disagree of course, but I would say that there seems to be consensus emerging amongst punters and pundits that the iPhone launch wasn’t quite the rip-roaring media uber-event Steve Jobs and crew had hoped for.

By: Simon Perry

Simon Perry — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:54:32 +0000

@Will – Misdirected call on the Apple-hating.

Many of us at DL towers have loved Apple since the Mac Plus days – and own quite a few of them past and present – (my passion even spread to owning a NeXt Cube!)

There a fundamental (probably a well chosen word in this context) problem in a world where, if you pass an observation that doesn’t praise Apple, some of their biggest fans assume that if you don’t love everything that they do (or call them on their over hype), that you must hate them. It’s not the case.

Let’s remember this is a mobile phone we’re talking about, not The Third Coming, or even the iPhone 2 :).

By: will

will — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:32:42 +0000

Mike, we know exactly nothing of Apple’s expectations since, to the best of my knowledge, they did not reveal any figures. What are you basing your claim on?