Frozen Transparency

The new iPhone (the second generation one, which can handle third generation cellular networks) launched a week ago. As someone who keeps up with tech (and therefore Apple) news, I paid attention to things going on that day. I just have a few thoughts on the whole thing:

• The number of people who got up early to wait in the AT&T line who didn’t seem to know anything about what they were planning on purchasing was staggering. From what I saw, there were several people who weren’t even aware that there were multiple SKUs.
• When Halo 3 launched for the XBox 360, the XBox Live servers had so much load they couldn’t handle new registration for a few days. It’s rare that a massive launch event happens that doesn’t cause servers to have a meltdown.
• Apple should have waited a day or two before releasing the firmware 2.0 update for first-generation iPhones. Having not only all second-generation iPhone purchasers but also all first-generation iPhone owners hit the store at the same time was not the smartest move. If they had staggered it a little, it might have helped.
• I am utterly shocked at the number of business people who were mad because they didn’t have a working phone for the course of the day. While you certainly can expect the best, you should prepare for the worst. I am not particularly convinced that business people who buy a new phone on its launch day are particularly good at business, seeing as businesses are typically slow to upgrade for a reason.
• Opening on a Friday morning at 8 is a great way to kill productivity that day. I wonder if the lost productivity from an Apple product launch is anywhere near the lost productivity from the NCAA tournament?
• I realize AT&T wants to maximize profits, but the different prices based on eligibility things are confusing, to say the least. Dealing with Family Plans and Account Holders and so on is even more so.
• Despite rising gas prices and economic worries, a million people were willing to drop at least two hundred dollars (more in other countries) on a collection of plastic and metal that allows them to stalk their friends from anywhere. Either the economy isn’t as bad as people think, or people are just that bad at making economic decisions.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.