Well, the day dawns for the launch in the UK of the 3G iPhone, and the people who decided not to queue are getting about as many iPhones as the ones who did.
A quick sample from the Twitterverse: Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's ubiquitous technology/industrial correspondent, decided at about 9.50 am that “Can't believe queues at o2 and cpw in Ealing for iphone - giving up".
At the time of writing, however, reports were starting to suggest that there were major problems with the launch once it began. Apple's stores have been unable to activate the handsets because the process requires Internet Explorer, while the stores all use Macs. Also, O2's credit-checking systems appear to have crashed, at least temporarily.
For the uninitiated, there hasn't been a version of Internet Explorer for Macs in absolutely years. It might just about run on the modern ones.. though it would be far easier to use browser spoofing. Except, of course, if ActiveX, which is Windows-only, is required.
I'm beyond metaphor and simile now...
Later still: the Daily Mail has a typically restrained headline - “Fury as iPhone customers forced to wait hours for mobiles after computer meltdown" (meltdown? hours? fury? Fury? Citation for the “fury" stuff, please? The only actual quote in the story from anyone is this:
First in the queue at Apple's Regent Street store, David Suen, was still trying to register his new phone an hour after the official launch. He said: 'I keep trying but it won't work. It's a shambles.'
So, calling something a “shambles" indicates fury. And I thought that we were such a relaxed nation, as a rule.
As Scott Colvey explains it:
A non-geographic (ie, costly) 0870 telephone number is provided for customers to call - 0870 4444713. This is not the usual O2 customer contact number and is answered in a different way to other O2 numbers. It doesn't Google reassuringly, either. Once answered, the caller is told they are being transferred to an attendent: the phone then rings and rings. And rings some more. We let ours ring for 45 minutes before wising up and calling the main O2 contact number for guidance.
....But after spending 3.60 on hold listening to nothing but a ringing tone, we decided to hang up. No matter, our adviser said, we could submit the requested security details electronically. All we had to do was scan our passport or driving license and a credit card and email it to O2. Email is hardly renowned for being a secure method of exchanging personal documents, so we declined this suggestion.
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