The iPhone 3G: A Lesson in Frustration

If you check out Apple's website today (it sometimes changes on Tuesdays, so I won't speculate on what it will show tomorrow), you'll see, in big letters: "It's here. The new iPhone 3G." Which is a lie. It's not here. Not anymore, anyway. From the tales I keep hearing from AT&T, the iPhone 3G is gone. Completely sold out. In less than 3 days. According to the salesperson at the AT&T store, Apple has told them that they grossly underestimated demand. He said it in a tone as if to say: "Duh — you didn't figure it would be a hot item?"

Which is my thought exactly. I mean, really? Dropping the price $200 and adding a slew of new features, combined with Apple's typical hype of any new product, and they didn't expect mad demand? Either they were asleep, there were real, honest supply problems (and Apple's covering it with a "we underestimated demand" story), or this is a marketing gimmick: make it look like there's huge demand by constricting supply.

Except that Apple sold over one million iPhones over the weekend (according to various reports I've seen on the 'Net). That's a lot of iPhones, any way you cut it. Which makes me wonder: how much of a marketing gimmick did they think they needed? And wouldn't it have been nice to say "We sold over 2 million iPhones!" or "We sold over 3 million iPhones!" instead?

Perhaps it was intentional — to restrict the number of people who'd be trying to turn the thing on over the weekend. As it was, Apple's servers melted under the demand, and many people referred to their machine as the iBrick. Go Apple.

But actually, I digress. As it turns out, not only is the iPhone not here, it's also unattainable for a good many people. No, I don't mean people whose budgets won't allow them to purchase the device. I mean current AT&T customers. See, if you're an AT&T customer (already), then you only get to upgrade your phone (at the price everyone thinks of when they talk about phones) every so often (1.5 years, I think). And guess what? A great many people aren't amongst those. Indeed, anyone who bought an original iPhone can't upgrade to the iPhone 3G for the advertised $199. 2 year contract nothing. You simply don't have an option: either shell out $399, or wait until it's time to upgrade.

And no one's bothered to make that clear, anywhere. Well, I suppose that's not true. If you go to AT&T's site and look under current AT&T customer you can check your upgrade eligibility. They require your phone number (which you likely know) and your password (which I certainly don't know).... But it's not exactly screaming at you: "Beware! You might not be eligible!"

Need I mention that I'm not eligible?

All I can say is that I'm really, really, really glad I didn't wait in line for 2 (or 3 or 4) hours on Friday, Saturday, or this morning, only to get to the counter and discover that I can either a) go home sad, without an iPhone or b) shell out an extra $200 to get the thing now. Perhaps that's why they did it? So people (like me) would get up there and, stuck between a rock and a hard place, would shell out the extra dough only to regret it later? It'd have been really hard, after that kind of wait, to walk away.

So I'm stuck. I could open a new line and get the phone now, but it doesn't take much in the way of math skills to figure out that you'd be better off shelling out the $200. Besides, I'd have to have a new phone number, which would be an enormous pain.

I hope to get my phone on August 11th, when I'm eligible. At least I don't have to wait a year (or more)!