People Come Out in Droves to Line-up for iPhone on Apple's 'iDay';
Too Early to Tell How History will View/Record June 29th, 2007
| by Joe Leo, Columnist |
OH YEAH...THEM: With an Apple flagship store just three blocks away, why bother with the little guys? These AT&T customers probably thought they were "lucky" getting iPhones, thinking it was sold out at Apple. (We love that guy on the right listening to his iPod... maybe an Apple spy?) [PHOTO: ©2007, J. Leo]
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At 8:30p, we headed down to the AT&T store on Third and Market Streets and found nobody there. Or so we thought, because it looked like it was closed and there was no ruckus. There were indeed some people there, and yes, asking about or buying the iPhone.
A customer who entered the store right after us went straight to the main counter to inquire about the iPhone. Outside, people passing by commented, "They won't have anymore." What else do you think they were referring to. Blackberries?
Our trip was cut short since the manager wouldn't let us take photos or interview people.
Which is okay, because the day before, we were able to get in contact with Jeremy Megoloff of San Leandro (which neighbors Oakland), a former AT&T/Cingular Wireless employee. Or PacBell, SBC... he mentioned to us that while he was an employee, he went through many mergers.
On the iPhone and AT&T, Megoloff said, "This much hype in a exclusive product can have its positives and negatives. I can say that the iPhone will definitely bump AT&T's subscriber base up for the short term. The 'agent' stores will most likely lead the way with this."
Megoloff elaborated by pointing out that "agent" stores are resellers of AT&T's services-- i.e., Best Buy, Amazon.com, Wirefly.com, just to name a few. Radio Shack anyone?
He went on to say, "With a breakthrough product like the iPhone, service after the sale is a very important measure to take. AT&T has a history of poor customer service (you can look up their customer service rankings vs. competitors). I hope Apple can pick up the slack on the support for this product."
We'll take his word for it, since he's a former employee. Though, was he implying that Apple's customer support is exemplary?
Going back to Emeryville for a moment, not literally however, we asked those first people in line whether they were going to have to switch wireless carriers, now that they were buying the iPhone. We found out that they were both current customers of AT&T.
At the Cingular Wireless store Contreras and Perez say they're happy with AT&T so far. "Their overall service is okay," says Contreras, while her boyfriend Perez comments that Cingular under AT&T is much better now than it was before.
Over at the Apple Store, Davis makes a good point. "I don't think any of the competitors are much better. I haven't had any issues, but it happens [across the board, i.e., dropped calls, etc.]."
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