Apple, the U.S. computer, iPod, and iPhone manufacturer, has the wrong food name today. Egg, as in on their face, would be a better food-appropriate name.
Apple attempted several upgrades and new product releases today: none of them have gone smoothly well.
- MobileMe is a day late, is crashing, and, when up, is not working well. For example, after waiting more than 30 minutes for my emails to display...they never did...I had to shut down the browser to get out of the service.
- The new iPhone 3G was released today, but most users can't activate them. Some blogs report that stores near them ran out of phones this morning while they had customers waiting.
- A new operating system was released today for existing iPhone and iPod Touch users, but most users can't download it. NOTE: Blogs more techie than mine are reporting that 1st gen iPhone users will have their phones deactivated if they only get through part of the upgrade...so better to wait till the issues are resolved so you won't lose phone service.
- Since the new OS can't be downloaded, the new App Store is simply a tease...we can see the new offerings, but we can't download or install them without the new OS.
These all seem to be caused by a common problem: Apple's servers. Some blogs and articles report that Apple's servers are completely down now. Whether they are down or not, they are not working as needed.
I didn't purchase an iPhone today, but I can't get MobileMe to work, I can't update my iPod, and I can't download new apps. I'd say Apple was batting zero with me today. In fact, I think Humpty Dumpty is a better name. I hope they get it all fixed soon. I wonder, but doubt, if they'll offer a compensation of some sort. (Speaking of the new apps, why are they promoting their new Remote app with an Olsen twin look-alike? See picture to the right.)
But the issue stretches even further...I've been meaning to call AT&T for several days to change or completely drop long distance from my home landline. I finally remembered to call today to determine exactly what constitutes long distance from my phone...oops. AT&T is Apple's partner in crime. The recorded voice that answered my phone call said they were experiencing extremely long delays and suggested calling back at another time. My guess is AT&T has pulled most of their customer service reps to their wireless support phone lines to handle the barrage of angry calls. This means delays to their other phone support areas as well. I hung up. As irritated or angry as we customers are today, AT&T must be furious with Apple. The two companies had agreed that the phones must be activated before a customer walks out of a store, but this is not happening according to the reports I've read. If I understand the technology correctly, this means people can take the phones they purchase today and try to hack them over to other services. Since AT&T is subsidizing the phones, having them hacked over to other services means they are paying money to Apple for each sold phone, but not earning any money from its use. Clearly, they are not happy campers if that's happening today. I would prefer wireless service from most any other company, but I'm not the type to hack the phone either. I wish Apple would let other U.S. carriers sell the iPhone also, but that's another story.
You know, for all of Apple's ads poking fun at Microsoft about how Vista doesn't work...Apple's meltdown today is a bigger publicity gaff than Vista. In the long run, Vista is a bigger gaff, but Apple's got more publicity damage because of all their claims of superiority. Look who's laughing now.
UPDATE: About 11:30 this evening the 2.0 OS update started downloading and installing on my iPod Touch (after one false start that I hope I won't be charged for). The update takes about 30 minutes and all my data, etc., was backed up and then re-installed as part of the process. It was so late when it finished that I only downloaded a few free applications from the App Store. Since the iPod Touch January Software update was removed before I purchased it, I got to see those apps tonight for the first time. Google Maps on the Touch is cool, but I need to figure out how to save directions. I set up Weather with my home town, but ignored Stocks (it's the middle of the night!) and Notes. I also didn't try the Mail program as that will take a little setting up. But, YAY, got the update successfully installed...only 15.5 hours after my initial attempt...and look forward to playing with it more. I noticed a few other bloggers are now saying they've finally activated or downloaded too, and TL got through about the same time as me. Hopefully Apple's server woes are over.
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