Apple iPhone: Was it a good day or a bad day?

After checking the availability of the iPhone at my local Apple store every day and every night for 2 weeks, and standing in line for all of 5 minutes on day 11 (a Tuesday at 8am, who stands in line on a Tuesday morning at 8am? Appartently everyone who wants a new iPhone) I decided to order and purchase directly through the AT&T store.

I have to say my experience was smooth, but it had been 4 years since I'd made a change to my cell phone all while an AT&T customer. Previously, I was not a bells and whistles cell phone user, but that has all changed. I'm a PC user and have no clue how to use a Mac, but I love my iPhone to pieces.

The free apps in the App Store are well worth the price of admission (pun intended). The most difficult aspect of being on day 17 of this new phone? I'm still learning how to use it! You must, I repeat, must purchase a "how-to" book (with pictures). You will find something new everyday. 

Ellen --- http://howdoiphonehome.com  ( http://howdoiphonehome.com )

Leave me a tweet ( http://twitter.com/lauras ) if you have a helpful link. (Put @lauras in the message so I'm sure to get it.) I'll try to get this up in the next 2-3 days, in time for the conference.

Laura Scott
BlogHer Contributing Editor for Technology & Web
design ( http://www.pingv.com ), snap ( http://scatteredsunshine.com ), blog ( http://www.rarepattern.com )

okay....so in retrospect a lot didn't happen as i'd hoped. seth godin writes a fab assessment on where apple and at&t missed a prime opp with having a scarce item for sale...read his most recent post: www.sethgodin.typepad.com ( http://www.sethgodin.typepad.com )

in ways i feel i sold out to the masses :) of that inner feeling that i have to have one. but at the same time, if you know me I AM BORING :) w/ how much i don't spend on myself...i can't remember (sorry) the last time i went to a restaurant or treated myself to full price anything...

 and as a thoughtful consumer, i was mostly angered that at&t changed their upgrading policy. but i've got the little bugger at long last and it's gonna make me twitter happily and just have a much more mobile presence than i've allowed myself. 

 i have about 6 new friends from the long lines...and even yesterday upon returning to the store, there were 5 people from the night before...they'd hit glitches too.....unforeseen costs, misinformation from at&t, etc.

for all; i recommend do the research. if you don't have an upgrade and you are not adding a line to an existing account w/ at&t you'll pay full price. but at that, it's $100 more than an ipod and it's a COMPUTER with all the apps as you have on your laptop. the only thing I miss is typing..but the keypad is fab and you can get an ipod stylus at geekthings.com.

email me if you wanna ask me anything about it.....meanwhile.....i should prolly write a blog post for all these lengthy comments...sorry for that!

if you get one you're really gonna dig it. it's the next best thing to when i learned how to drive a car...it transforms your life THAT MUCH.

 enjoy :)

Tre ~ http://thoughtbythought.wordpress.com

Okay I haven't zeroed into some kind of topic like this since I got my sweet lil bichon frise 7 years ago...I was nonstop researching info on the breed and Berkeley is living proof of all my learnings and relearnings...(named after a fave city but of cworse).

okay At&t update....you gotta love that one of the first things I hit the At&T customer service rep from the south with his souther drawwwwwwl was "Good morning and what is your name?" omg I'm becoming my mother--crings cringe--visions of her demanding attitude toward 100s of store clerks over the duration of my childhood flood thought. Flash fwd to my phone call...

I'll save you the "well Apple should have known boo boo boo. There's NO happy merger here. But I found out key infor"

NO ONE WHO IS EXISTING CUSTOMER WILL INCUR A CANCELLATION FEE TO SIMPLY START UP A NEW CONTRACT. NO ONE WILL. Forget the $175 fear ....you won't be charged it. Just simply won't.

So......the lowdown: I got misinformation and was told my phone upgrade could never be used toward an iphone. Customer service guy just said "I don't know who would have ever told you that. We have been allowing people to buy an iphone using a phone upgrade for 5 months now."  Well, simply not true. Any AT&T store or apple store told me for the past 4 months I couldn't use my phone upgrade to buy an iphone.

 He wrote down my gripes:

a. that i was told 2 months ago I couldn't use my phone upgrade toward an iphone EVER

b. that I was told 2 months ago that any contract plan I sign up for now can come 'with' me to the new iphone when I decide to purchse one (I'd heard rumblings bout a new release and wanted to wait)

c. that I was told last night I'd incur $175 cancellation fee..mac told me this...for sure for starting a 'new' contract with AT&T. NOT TRUE and it doesn't make sense and would miff tons of new customers. NO EXISTING CUSTOMER GETS THIS PENALTY of $175 early termination. Just won't happen.

And  now he said I'll have to wait for an AT&T manager to get back in touch..

So I've learned minimally I will most likely have to pay full price for the iphone ($399 or $499) BUT I won't have early termination fees. Truth: I haven't purchased a phone in years...I have only used upgrades In the end I know that this device is well worth it.

I have one on hold at Apple and schedule a workshop to learn how to use it as well. So I'm sure I'll go ahead, put it on the credit card and just get the smaller version: the 8gig b/c I have an ipod already and even with this iphone, there's gonna be improvements over the next 2 years. This is what methinks right now.

Note to reader:

If you h ave to talk to an at&t sales rep: they have been scripted what to say (typical) they don't have a lot of compassion or patience for your saga.

My main gripe is I'm a nilly for using the upgrade 2 months ago. But I'd been told that I would ever be able to buy an iphone with is. So that is just poor information on their part.

 I forgot to mention: in 7 hours of being in line with 200 others, not once did another vendor come sales pitch to us....no freebies ...no samples from starbucks...really missed a huge marketing opp to hit live customers right there.

Did I mention this: in our frenzied waiting: one of the guys standing with took a photo of us crazies...when he emails it, I'll upload it.

If you graduated highschool in themid 80s you remember the franticness you felt when you stood in line for hours to buy rush, journey, styxx, or duran duran concert tickets. IT WAS LIKE THAT ALL OVER AGAIN.

But folks: THERE WERE NO AT&T PEEPS IN THE APPLE STORE. NONE!

Anyone else wanna share their iphone story...do so here :)

What i'm realizing tho is I seriously doubt any At&T mgr is gonna override the fact that

omg the at&t manage is calling!!! gotta run....cool... 

More soon~~~ 

Tre ~ http://thoughtbythought.wordpress.com

I´m thinkin about having it bought for me in Belgium...no At&T restrictions there. But who goes to Belgium??? Arg...This is all a big black blurrrrrr....

betan ( http://www.raus.is/beta )
an icelander clinging on the idea of world

I'm not even thinking about upgrading mine but TW needs a phone and two of my kids will need new phones this fall - all are getting iPhones but I'm not 100% sure how the contracts are going to work or effect my existing at&t contract. Before we buy these, we need to do our homework so we aren't surprised by the bill.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

How long do you have to wait?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

And you were a good reminder to me about why I wasn't going anywhere near that firmware update yesterday with my iPhone. It's actually the only phone we have right now and having an iPhone brick would not have been a good thing.

I'll wait 'til the crazy dies down and then update and wander around the apps. (Or I'll wait til TW gets her 3g and plays with apps, I always make her test stuff first, heh.)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Existing At&t customers: hear this:. you gotta pay full price for a phone if you aren't eligible for an upgrade. 2 months ago w/ a 2 year never used upgrade I bought a phone to make do with. Now I must pay $175 to cancel that contract and full price for an iphone 3G ($399 or $499). I'm considering cancelling my current contract and going back as a newbie customer but somehow methinks there will be glitches to that. The upside: I finished my read of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters, made some cool mac buds, and took in the sights and sounds and scents of a typical suburban mall. Okay Okay. It was hard to wait that long and come out empty handed. Won't be doin that again. Sadly, Apple store let in 3 groups of business men who walked in, bought their phones and were outa there in maybe 20 mins. Mac guy that helped me kept apologizing ....exact words: At&t and Apple's partnership is hardly cooperative. At&t has told their customers much that simply isn't true. (Me: I was told I could for sure get the discount on the new iphone b/c I'm started a new phone number. Not true. You have to have a family plan you're adding a line to. Or be switching from another carrier (but ps you'll have cancellation charges with your current carrier) or be a recent purchaser (May 08 up to now) of the former iphone. No one tells you that as soon as you get the new iphone 3g you're already incurring cancellation fees with at&t....well, let's just say i thought I did my homework. The goods: what I selected is on hold for me up until Tuesday. Meanwhile I gotta square up with At&t and find out if it's possible to not incur the cancellation fee... Sadly, 2 months ago, At&t told me that iphones were not ever gonna be eligible to purchase using an upgrade. No joke.

So. I ought to have read more than I did. I thought I'd done enough homework. I still think overall the fact we'd all have a mobile blogging device YUM and so much more....that it's a must have for anyone who wants to live their techie-godnessness. And that is how I'm signing off tonight. Agreeing in my heart I can't beat myself up for wanting the latest and greatest tools with which to blog my way to spreading healing thoughts and inspiration 'round the world...but heck. It sure woulda been fab if any at&t peeps could have been on site to answer contract type questions.And free yums would have been welcomed.. :)(at least some waters and whatnot...) More on this if i actually go back and get me some ....

Just be sure to know where you stand on your current contract if you're an existing at&t customer. Happy to offer more suggestions...email me at : silly lady who doesn't mind standing in line for 7 hours to buy nothing at gmail.com. KIDDING: evolveserenity@gmail.com Live, learn, and love yourself a whole lot more b/c you realize you have much growing still to do :) :) :) Be well ya'll and see you in less that a week! Tre ~

Tre ~ http://thoughtbythought.wordpress.com

At BlogHer '08, corner Chris from http://socialcustomer.com and he can help. Cause Lord knows I'm still a beginner with my Mac, since I'm still knocking on Elisa Camahort's office door for help every ten minutes...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

since im in reykjavik, iceland there was no line to stand in and i the tools to upgrade a jailbreak phone arent up yet. but i did watch the omni focus app video and its oh so smooth.  but i can wait. im like sooo patient. yes. im waiting. not waiting. not freaking out or anything. im cool. 3g doesnt affect me on lil bit. or gprs. nope.

i lie. me wants it so bad.  

betan
an icelander clinging on the idea of world

uh... bad.
The 2.0 software fiasco that killed my iPhone for four hours (and thousands of other 1st generation iPhone owners http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/11/itunes-activati... ( http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/11/itunes-activati... )) set the tone.

As for the apps, I'm looking forward to trying out a few. Notably the voice recorders and To-Do apps but also the Wi-Fi VoIP http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/11/voip-on-my-ip... (where's the free Skype version of this??) look promising.

 Everyone knows how to use it but me! It's been on my computer for a month now and I have no clue how it works! :(

- Maria

http://immoralmatriarch.com

I was excited about them for awhile but it seems like more trouble than it is worth. I liked jailbreaking mine but now I feel like I'm done with apps. Even if there is an Evernote app, and I do love Evernote.

Maybe after the conference I'll get excited about them again?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I'm all a-flutter over the new iPhone apps, especially the one that could save me from commercial radio. Check out CNET's reviews of the iPhone approll: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13549_7-9988961-30.ht...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )