Cognitive Friction

In my last post, I threw the rattle out of the pram over my disappointing experience trying to buy an iPhone 3G on the day it was launched. As of today – almost a week later – I am still stuck with my crappy Sony Ericsson T630. Last Friday the O2 store said that they would call me when stock came in, perhaps by Tuesday. Well that was two days ago, so I made a few polite inquiries today. Here’s what I heard:

• A guy in Car Phone Warehouse told my friend that they expected a nationwide delivery of new stock in two weeks time, consisting of just 700 phones, which is exactly what they received at the 11th July launch.
• O2 and CPW are pissed off at Apple for oversupplying the States and starving the rest of us for stock. I don’t know, though, it’s unsurprising that Apple would look after the US first and let the rest of the world suffer any initial stock shortage.
• I called the O2 store where I placed my pre-order, and they expect some stock today or tomorrow. How many phones and what spec. they will receive they wouldn’t say. Those will go to whoever’s next on the preorder list.

So I may get lucky and get a call this evening or tomorrow, if my number comes up. After that, I’m on holiday and out of the country for most of the next two weeks, so I’ll have no choice but to wait until early August.

In the interim, I’ve been downloading some apps from the app store to my iPod Touch and having fun trying to sync OmniFocus across my Macs and the iPod. More about that experience in a later post.

Updates

Friday 8^th August: I got my iPhone! Read my first impressions.

Wednesday 6^th August: So I called into the O2 Store today and inquired about my iPhone. The staff told me that the waiting list had been cleared and that I should already have gotten a call to collect my phone. I had received no call. They checked the store room and found no phone waiting for pickup – I had somehow been overlooked. The staff took my details again and have promised to call as soon as they can source a phone for me. Bummer, but at least it’s getting fixed. I knew taking a holiday was a bad idea.

Friday 18^th July: I see that stock did arrive into the O2 retail stores yesterday and was used to clear pre-orders not yet filled. An O2 forum administrator posted this to the iPhone stock thread:

Some stock was made available yesterday for customers who had pre-ordered but not received a iPhone. Some more will be on the way soon.

So my number didn’t come up yet. I bet they try and call me next week when I’m on holiday, Sod’s Law says this will be so.

Science fiction author William Gibson said The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed. The same could be said of Apple’s long awaited iPhone 3G, which launched last Friday. Although I had pre-ordered a phone at the start of the month, I came away empty handed.

iPhone 3G - still waiting

I turned up at O2’s Henry Street retail store at 8.00 am on the day of the launch. They normally open 9.30, but the O2 website publicized a 9.00 am opening. By 9.00, there was a line of about 20 people, including me and my colleague Ciarán but the store didn’t open until 9.35. The manager unlocked the door and stood there to advise people with no pre-order that they would not be getting phones today. I had heard on the grapevine earlier that morning that this store had exactly 11 models in stock, a report that proved spot on. Those levels of stock were typical in Irish stores: 10 phones here, 14 there. Pathetic.

At the counter, the assistant showed me her pre-order spreadsheet. It had 11 names at the top highlighted green – those getting a phone that morning – and about 20 names below that highlighted red. I was about halfway down the red list. No phone for me. I changed my pre-order to a 16 GB model and was told I might get my phone Tuesday, maybe, they’d give me a call. Folks with no pre-orders were told they’d have to wait two weeks, maybe more.

I was disappointed, naturally, I’d been waiting two weeks since I prudently pre-ordered my phone to pick it up on launch day, and took time off work to stand in line. Worse, folks who didn’t pre-order at all, but went to stand in line early at Car Phone Warehouse, were lucky enough to get their phone that day.

It’s not the end of the world, I know, but I feel Apple handled this launch really badly. The predictable but unmanaged server load, the resulting activation debacle, the poor levels of stock, all add up to a really bad user experience. In fact, I’d say Apple’s handling of this launch sucked, and to prove it I ran a poll over on the forums at the maccast.

9 out of...er...9 said the iPhone 3G launch sucked

As you can see above, most people (55% as of 14^th July) also reckon this launch sucked while a further 33% were less than happy. So what’s the fall out for Apple here? Probably nothing. Personally, I can’t wait to get my phone and will probably forget how much I griped about the launch as soon as I pick it up. Watch this space.