iPhone 3G Part I

Today was the launch day of the iPhone 3G.  I’m not usually someone who gets whipped up by the hype and desperate to get my hands on things on launch day so I wasn’t going to join the queues of people this morning when the stores opened up at 8:02am (still need to find out what the deal is with this strange opening time – will post something when I find out).

Instead I chose to take a leisurely stroll to the Carphone Warehouse at lunchtime to try my luck and see if they had any left.  My colleagues told me I had no chance but I thought ‘hey what the heck they might just have lots of stock this time’.  As I got to the store I thought my hunch was right because in front of me I could see iPhone 3G paperwork being completed and I thought my luck was in!!.  As it turned out they were just taking orders from people since they had sold out of the stock they had so my colleagues were spot on.

I began the process of ordering mine – they told me that I would get my hands on one on Monday or Tuesday the latest.  Since I am already on O2  I figured the process would be very quick and painless because I didn’t need to transfer my number or anything so it would be the easy.  Sadly this was not the case as the sales assistant struggled on his computer to process things.  After much pressing of buttons he even resorted to RTFM  which we all know mean desperate times .  Still no luck so he drafted in his mate who was sporting a nice iPhone 3G black t-shirt but even this dude couldn’t figure out what the problem is.  I was quite happily sending Tweets as this was all unfolding so wasn’t too bothered by it all in all honesty.  Eventually he got through to someone at Sales Support and he worked out that he was supposed to scan the bar code on my new SIM card during the process which he had not done and as soon as he did this we were on our way.  I’ve now paid for my lovely iPhone 16 GB model and I have my new SIM card all ready as soon as I get it.

Interestingly I asked the guy what it was like in the morning and he said it was manic and that they had only 40 phones – all which were pre-ordered.  I would have been pissed off if I had queued for hours in the early morning and then walk out with an iPhone ordered and not the device itself because of this pre-ordering malarkey.  What I don’t understand is why with all the hype that Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse have been doing they choose to disappoint people on launch day with only having limited stock.  I’ve read it’s so that they can have sound bites that all stores were sold out on launch day but there are a lot of bitter people who are disappointed.  Surely it would have been better to get these devices to as many people as possible and let them wax lyrical about how good it is and how much they are enjoying it?  But then who I am to judge – I’m not marketing guru but as a consumer if I had been able to get my hands on one by now I would be blogging about the device rather than just the process of trying to get my hands on one. I expect better from Apple because they make fantastic products and my feeling is that they should make the ‘getting an iPhone’ as easy and enjoyable as using their products. 

So now I am waiting eagerly for my new toy *ahem* iPhone and seeing how it changes my life (or not).  I will of course be blogging about my journey into iPhone land so please come back and if you have one yourself already let me know how you’re finding the experience.