Giving up on the Iphone…
Last night, I returned my second Iphone to the Apple (AAPL) store and I won’t be buying another one — at least anytime soon. Twelve days ago, after spending all day in line waiting to plunk my $599 down, I was eagerly looking forward to replacing my trusty Treo, which I’ve had for the past 1 1/2 years. It worked fine for email and the call quality was very good, but the web browsing was limited, at best. And the calendar didn’t sync well with Apple’s Ical that I use to keep track of my schedule.
The Iphone, which has Safari, has a great browser — when it worked, which unfortunately wasn’t all that frequently on either of the two phones I used over the past 12 days. It would repeatedly crash, requiring me to restart, resync and even reconfigure the phone repeatedly (I must have entered my WiFi password at least 8 times). And spending hours on the phone with Apple’s tech support — nearly two hours yesterday and probably close to 10 hours in total — means that I have less time to scour SEC filings, which surprisingly, have largely been devoid of Iphone mentions.
The first Iphone I bought didn’t have a working speaker, so that when someone called me, I was unable to hear the phone ring — a basic feature that’s kind of essential to a working phone. There was also this recurring problem with Safari where the browser window would open, but you couldn’t type anything into the page. So it went back last Friday. The new Iphone had a working speaker, but the Safari issue was still there. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. But for $599 — really $1,975 as this story points out, given the cumbersome 2-year contract — it needs to work all of the time. My first bill from AT&T (T), which arrived yesterday, was for a whopping $136.40.
Now I’ve been an Apple customer since 1998 when I bought my first Imac and I’ve been generally pretty happy with all of their products. But when a device that’s supposed to make your life easier (or at the very least cooler) starts to take up large chunks of your time, that’s when it’s time to raise the white flag. Which is what I did last night when I returned it. The woman at the Apple store looked as if I had insulted her personally when I said I had had enough with the Iphone and just wanted a full refund (read: no $59.99 restocking fee).
How many other people who bought Iphones have had similar problems? It’s hard to say, though there’s lots of speculation all over the web. The person who actually processed the return said she’s seen a fair number of people exchanging Iphones because of problems like the ones I experienced, but not a lot asking for refunds. “They’re not willing to give it up that easily,” she said. To be sure, returning my Iphone wasn’t an easy process: dealing with Apple on the phone, then my old carrier to get my number back, and then AT&T to cancel the service, and then having to drive 25 miles to the Apple store to physically return the phone. But given all the problems I had, I wasn’t willing to waste any more time on this. I still love my Powerbook. And my multiple Ipods. But I’m done — at least for now — with the Iphone.
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July 11th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I’ve had my iPhone since 6/30. Absolute life changer. I haven’t had any of the problems you’re reporting and have been using it very heavily. Have you seen other people with these extreme problems as well?
July 11th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Some of my friends also say it’s changed their life. And I’m genuinely happy for them. But I got to a point where I couldn’t waste any more time trying to make it work, even though giving in meant admitting that I had already wasted countless hours.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Politics as usual.
Wireless-phone industry tactics criticized
3:39p ET July 11, 2007 (MarketWatch)
Wireless-phone industry tactics criticized
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday took the wireless-phone industry to task, criticizing high early-termination fees and the inability to use mobile devices such as the new iPhone on different networks.
Before switching to another wireless provider, mobile customers usually have to pay $175 or more to terminate their current plan and they have to get a new phone. Devices that work on one U.S. wireless network rarely work on another - in part because carriers use different technologies or have exclusive marketing arrangements with handset makers.
The new iPhone by Apple Inc. is a case in point. The device, costing $500 to $600, is only available via AT&T Inc., with an early-termination fee of $175. Yet the AT&T network on which the iPhone operates is much slower than rival networks when it comes to Internet access.
Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of a key House committee on telecommunications, noted that customers who don’t like AT&T’s network can’t move to another provider.
“You’re stuck with your iPhone and you can’t take it anywhere,” the Massachusetts Democrat said.
Markey and other lawmakers leveled their criticism Wednesday during a hearing ostensibly to determine whether the federal government should bar states from regulating the wireless industry. Mobile carriers say it’s very costly to comply with multiple state laws.
At present, states can oversee the terms and conditions of wireless plans but are prevented from regulating prices.
For the most part, though, lawmakers spent their time focusing on wireless-industry practices that they say hurt consumers and stifle innovation. Many would like to see companies reduce early-termination fees or allow subscribers to use their handsets on any network they choose.
Several industry critics who testified at the hearing noted that Asia and Europe obligate carriers to ensure that any device will work with their networks.
Wireless entrepreneur Jason Devitt, chief executive of SkyDeck, said 800 devices would work on Vodafone Group plc’s wireless network in Europe, whereas only 30 devices work on Verizon’s network in the U.S.
He accused mobile operators such as Verizon and AT&T of having a “deathgrip” on handset choices in the U.S.
Wireless executives defended the industry, saying it’s highly competitive and arguing that costs to consumers would rise if government required devices to work on all networks.
Some lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, also expressed reluctance to tamper with what most acknowledged was a healthy and fast-growing industry.
“The wireless-service market is vigorously competitive,” said Fred Upton, R.-Mich.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Being an Apple devotee since ,81, I too drooled over the iPhone. I went into a store and fiddled with one then went out and bought a new Treo 755p replacing a mediocre Motorola “Q” which had replaced a flawed Treo 700p. As a real estate agent, my phone is mission critical and now that the Treo (Palm OS) is wrung out and works, I just wasn’t ready to go with v. 1.0 anything, but I am watching closely…
July 12th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I bought mine the day they were released and its been pretty much flawless for me in the two weeks I’ve had it. My wife has had a treo for about a year now and I personally hate that thing, its clunky, ugly and I can never figure out how to use it. The iPhone is like a dream come true for me. Its simple, easy to use and does pretty much everything i could ever want in a handheld device in a way that seems natural and uncomplicated. I must say that its a bit of a mystery to me as why someone would choose a treo over the iPhone, but I guess we’re all different. To me, thats like giving up on indoor plumbing and going back to using outhouses because you had a dripping faucet.
As for the quality, I’ve acidentally dropped it from 4 feet straight onto concrete twice (you can see the places of impact on the casing), it sat in my hot car all day during a 108 degree weather last weekend and it works perfectly. I find the connection quality and sound to be much better than the motorola phone i was using previously.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Well, I’m not exactly choosing a Treo over the Iphone. I bought the Iphone and it didn’t work, so I exchanged it for another one. That one also had problems and the only solution Apple was able to offer after hours of phone troubleshooting was to exchange it for yet another one. Rather than risk the chance that I’d wind up with a third dud and waste even more time, I’ve decided to sit tight for now.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I did buy severel stocks of aapl however; I don’t know what I want to do with it and am looking around to see if these kind of things are happening. The stock is still rising in price, but I don’t know if I want to sell now or wait.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I have had my iPhone (8gb) since 6/30. I has operated flawlessly. I did have to reset it once after experiencing a few dropped web pages on Safari. Otherwise it has been a complete joy to move through the web, use the phone, email, the works! There are some things that could improve which have all been listed at numerous places on the web. Nevertheless, I am delighted with mine and will not depart with it. Even the criticized battery life has been performing well on my use which has been reasonably heavy.
Michele, hard to believe you got such duds.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Yes — hard to believe. But true. Though the serial numbers on the two phones were vastly different, I bought them both at the same time, so perhaps it was just a bad lot. Or my bad luck. When I exchanged the first phone last Friday, I swapped it out for the second phone, which I had bought to auction for charity and decided to return when it received no bids. Maybe I should have insisted on an entirely different phone.
I also thought it was interesting that AT&T got the type of phone wrong on my account. Though I bought an 8, they had it listed on their site as a 4. No difference in price (as far as AT&T is concerned), but another sign that the lines of communication between Apple and AT&T may not be working all that well.
July 15th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Based on your experience I’m holding off on even going to look at maybe buying one. People who get working models rave about them, but could this be another Playstation 3 quality fiasco?
July 25th, 2007 at 11:48 am
[...] an awful lot like the “out the door” accounting method. Footnoted regulars know about my own Iphone experience. It will be interesting to see how the numbers stack [...]