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NO WONDER ...AT&T;only activated 149,000 phones the first day and half! THIS is MATERIAL BREACH OF CONTRACT by AT&T;and should be reported.

All of these comments should be forwarded (from your iPhone) Directly to APPLE and to AT&T;as follows:



and to

(investor relations)

Tommy Sauter,
More typical compassionate open-minded liberalism, eh? Always considering all sides..... always weighing all points of view.... you confirm my view of the typical Lib/Democrat (aka "wacko") (sad).

Just went to an at&t;store and while they had it on display the guy who seemed eager to come around the counter to show a 219-200 net 19 nokia returned to behind the counter as the wife and I examined the iPhone. He said he'd be getting one once the gave a discount to employees and the minute we touched a blackberry he spoke up to say how disappointed we'ed be in the keyboard and should really go for the iPhone. He was clear about the why but seemed to care less about the how and I thought it was his job to deal with the how. I think Apple set the no commission rule and while I appreciate why and admire how it works in the Apple Store, being the most expensive item in someone elses store and saying sorry guys you don't get a cut for helping us get this out is a bad call.

I hope that as Apple sees that their 180 odd stores is out selling the 1800 odd AT&T;stores the'll take a second look at their policies and not just assign all the blame on AT&T;. Not praising AT&T;mind you, just being honest that Apple plays a role in what is going on as well.

My local AT&T;store had them on display at first, then took them out. The display is still there, but no iPhones are attached. I didn't have any trouble purchasing the iPhone, but they would not even bring it out of the back room until I had paid for it. If I hadn't been set on buying the iPhone when I walked in or had not already looked at and held one, I would've gone to another AT&T;store to see if I was treated any better. We do live and shop in an area that has a high theft rate and I just kind of wrote it off to that, but now that I read these other comments from all over, I probably would purchase direct from Apple next time.

Not having to deal with a wireless carrier's store to buy and activate your phone is a significant (and very attractive) feature of the deal with AT&T;. I can't imagine giving that up just for convenience of location, and the reports in this thread suggest the wisdom of that stance.

I have gone to the at&t;mobility store in Downtown Miami in Miami FLorida, I have seen a police offer next to where the big Iphone display case is but NO I PHONE I gone in many times to that store to see the device and all you see is the 2 ipod dock station with the metalic lock around it. but no i phone display. when walkin the rep. say you sign before coming. im fuck this shit... I scream out this is bullshit thank god im with T-Mobile.

I didn't feel like standing in a long line on day one, so I ordered my iPhone online later that night. I got it a bit less than two weeks later. I activated it, and was able to call out from the iPhone immediately, but incoming calls kept going to my T-mobile phone for about three days (they weren't too snappy about releasing my number to AT&T;.)

-jcr

Some of these AT&T;people remind me of the "I hate Apple and you should buy a Windows PC" people.

I got the exact same feeling when I went to a AT&T;store in my area. They practically sneered when I asked about the iPhone and then, saying they were sold out, proceeded to bash it without hesitation.

I think these are a lot of ex Comp USA types now working at AT&T;stores.

I think this article it a common nerve. Got my Iphone the day after launch night. Went to my local ATT store they were out but willing to take orders for delivery. I then high-tailed it to my local Apple store... was on line for less than 2 minutes and walked home with a 8 gig phone. It took me 3 tries to to get the phone up and running and I'm a Cingular customer. I ported my number from my RAZR. The following weekend I decided to save myself $800 plus in future cost by terminating my Motorola Q contract with Verizon 1 year early. Well worth it the Iphone has been a Swiss army knife of travel . I love it.

Myself and two other co-workers had been calling the local AT&T;store here in Ft. Collins, CO inquiring about the iPhone (they had been sold out and told us to keep checking on availability each day after noon). After a few days we called and they informed us that they did, in fact, have three iPhones in stock. So we told them we would be right in to pick them up.

It took us all of 10 minutes to get to the store. When we arrived we inquired about the phones and were told by a sales person that they didn't have any iPhones and hadn't had any for days (when, in fact, we were told when we called the day before that they received a few but had immediately sold them).

So, we informed the sales guy that we had just called and spoken with someone who told us that they had just received three iPhones. He didn't even bother to ask anyone if that was the case, just tried to act like he was right. We began to question the sales guy about why we were told they had the iPhones when they didn't have them in stock, when the general manager overheard and told the sales guy that they did, in fact, have the iPhones. It turned out that they only had two, not three. So I just decided to travel the extra hour to get one from the Apple Store in Boulder.

Definitely worth the drive to deal with the Apple employees.

I have no regrets over getting the iPhone. I love it and think it is a totally revolutionary device. I do, however, question my decision to ditch T-Mobile for AT&T;. I hope T-Mobile offers iPhones once AT&T;'s exclusivity expires.

... but to answer the original question. They did have two on display and didn't seem to make a big fuss when I saw someone touching and trying them out.

I waited about 10 days before i got one. transferred from vzn wireless because of the abysmal Treo 700p that i had (yes, even w/ the latest 1.10 MR -- still paused while simply changing pages w/ ereader.com, even the 600 was better than it) and the high cost of verizon's data plan. I figure i'll recoup the iphone's cost over the life of the 2 years easily especially w/ selling my 700p for $100. Anyway, I don't think i even walked 10 feet into the NYC Soho Apple Store, when i asked a salesperson if they have any 8GB iPhones left, she said yes and asked if i was paying my credit card, I said yes, and she says hold on... she came back 4 minutes later w/ an iPhone in a bag, whips out a Symbol PalmPilot (of all things!) swipes my card, asks me to sign, print or email receipt (email), watch her type the correct email, have a nice day... 10 feet, not even 10 minutes, iPhone in hand. A few hours later, sit in local Starbux plug in MBP, plug in iPhone, fill in info (including porting of number from Vzn) 1/2 hour later all done, number transferred and everything. I didn't even realized it ported that quickly until i got an SMS from a friend... thank you apple, thank you apple, i really didn't want to have to talk to AT&T;about this phone at all... and you have made that possible. Now give us software version 1.1 will ya!! Happy in NY

Two things.

1) My experiences with AT&T;stores have all been great (starting with the 29th) to four other visits since then dealing with questions on my bill to getting peripherals.

2) If you're going to print crap like this make them give you the names of the cities and the store locations so if it's true AT&T;can choose to deal with it and not have to hammer every store due to a rumor. As an AAPL stockholder this type of reporting pisses me off when articles with nothing but he said / she said remarks. If you're going to use "News" in your name then be responsible about it. Look at what happened to Apple stock when the BS report on a delay with the iPhone to October and Leopard to January 2008 was released. Now your article is quoted in iTWire so the FUD is spreading. Please vet your story before printing it. Hell call the supposed stores to see how they handle you on the phone. If they won't show phones on Sunday and you call they should say that on the phone. By vetting your sources you add credence to your story.

If the stories are true then I want them out there so the problems can be dealt with by AT&T;and Apple.

I went into the ATT store in Toledo, OH, and they had a display for the iPhone as well as a working sample. The sales staff came over and showed us all the in's and out's of the phone and were, in general, quite nice. They were out of 8gb phones, but had 2 4gb in stock (I wanted the 8). The sales guy said they expected more to arrive in the next couple days and we should call back to see if the phones had arrived before driving back down to the store.
The one thing I thought was strange was that he said that the employees were not able to buy the phones yet, from the store, as the demand was too high- he was looking forward to buying one before Christmas.
So, ATT did well for us in Toledo, OH

I went to an AT&T;store in Long Beach, CA to see the iPhone, and there were two iPhone docks on display but no iPhones. I asked where the display models were, and the guy said "in the back, locked up". There were about 5 people in the store asking the same question... Pretty sad Apple had to partner up with retards to make something work, but I love my iPhone (which I bought at the Apple store).

I haven't had "friction" because I never asked to see the phone. But, there are two ATT stores in my neighborhood.

On the Friday night they went on sale, a friend and I happened to walk by one of them about 7:00 pm. There was a large mob of people outside waiting to get in.

When we walked by later, about 10:00 pm, the mob had thinned out, but were still there.

I walked into the other store the other day, with my daughter. There was no display, and no iPhones anywhere.

I was surprised, but asked nothing, and we walked out.

There is an AT&T;store at the Galleria mall in White Plains, NY that has an iPhone display, but doesn't have any iPhones out. (They did have iPhones out on the launch date.)

When I made inquired about the iPhone, well, you couldn't have asked for more rude and fowl-mouth salespeople. It's amazing how different the cultures between Apple and AT&T;are.

Yes, I wrote to Apple's Investor Relations.

Ifi it was not for the Apple branding, the sales would be much fewer. When I went to my local corporate ATT store in Northern NJ, they did not have any Iphones in stock (probably true). But what a little disconcerting is that they were trashing the Iphone and Apple as putting out a bad product and suggested that I buy the new Blackberry Curve. I just smiled, walked out and across the mall and bought one at the apple store. They were friendly as always and certainly did not trash ATT (even though they have every right to do so)

Apple needs to recruit several hundred secret shoppers to visit AT&T;corporate stores to make their own assessment. My hunch is that they would be horrified by the results. Like many companies with "corporate stores", AT&T;has low hiring standards.

I'm guessing that these are folks that "hate all things Apple". I've had many people become downright nasty if you even attempt to mention Apple, Macintosh or iPhone.

"Activating the phone at home is going to be like self-serve cashiers at the supermarket."

I hope not, because that is an irritating, slow and dehumanizing process.

If this is true - that AT&T;employees aren't marketing the iPhone on an equal footing with other products - might this not violate the exclusive agreement between Apple and AT&T;and let Apple out early due to breach of contract by AT&T;? I wish I were privy to the wording of their agreement...

I just want to know where you live that they are offering hiring bonuses to casheirs? Are all areas of business there looking for help? There are lots of people looking for work!

MDN MW: Is it south?

One thing to remember is that these ATT store employees probably don't have a lot of people skills, since they are used to seeing only a few customers a day. They simply aren't trained to handle an influx of people who are enthusiastic about a product the employee knows little about.

And Chris, you are the reason comments end up being moderated or shut off. Stick to the topic or STFU, there's no reason to spout your propaganda here other than to force people to listen to your inappropriate rantings.

AT&T;was the show stopper for me, there is no way I'll enter AT&T;hell. I need a good carrier with an unlocked phone before I bite. As for the ethics, ethics depends on where you sit, it is ethical for a corporation to take an employees commission if it helps their bottom line.

I live in Milwaukie, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. I phoned our local AT&T;store at the Clackamas Promenade a week after the iPhone's release. The salesman told me that they didn't have any iPhones in stock, but they would be happy to order me one, if I would like. The salesman seemed kind, knowledgeable, courteous, and more than willing to sell me an iPhone. The sales staff at this store have been great in the past too. Whether they will actually have an iPhone on display might be another story.

I'm very disappointed if it's true that AT&T;would screw their sales staff out of commissions for selling iPhones. Apple needs to look into this to see if this is true and give AT&T;hell for it because this obviously effects sales of the iPhone.

When compared to the Apple Store, AT&T;employees just are not as knowledgeable or motivated to sell the iPhone. It is up to AT&T;to make sure their staff is customer friendly, knowledgeable, and motivated, whatever that entails.

one issue that seems to not be mentioned is that apple does not allow for the sealed phones to be opened in stores. so if a store does not have a display model, then they CANT show more than a sealed box to a customer.

Wow, i thought this was really random until i read this. the ATT store in dallas on oaklawn is doing the same thing... the iphone display is there, but no iphones! i asked what happened to them, and they said there was some agreement with apple that prevented them from displaying it anymore... i already have an iphone, but thought it was insane that this is how it is. WTF is going on?!

I got an idea, take your laptop along with you when you go to an AT&T;store. If they treat you crappy about buying an iPhone then just pull open your laptop in front of them and order your iPhone from Apple. Thank them, and walk out.

Random CoolZip said
"If this is true - that AT&T;employees aren't marketing the iPhone on an equal footing with other products - might this not violate the exclusive agreement between Apple and AT&T;and let Apple out early due to breach of contract by AT&T;? I wish I were privy to the wording of their agreement..."

Thats all well and fine for Apple, but if it were to happen, what about all us users who are trapped in a 2 year prison/hell sentence? If Apple can get out of the contract, will they bail us out with them?

Mac Realist,

Man, you must be really bored. Nothing else to do but troll? Maybe you should try a job...

No matter what sales industry one encounters, you will always find sales people that are not the nicest. Think of your automotive buying experiences... have those all been stellar? No? Maybe you have found a sales person or a dealership that has really great practices and that you don't mind working with... still... buying a car is not something most look forward to. Its the same when we walk into a furniture store... electronic gizmo center... mobile solutions store. Granted, some companies are better than others when it comes to customer service. But when you are working with a commissioned base environment, you are going to get people who only care about their bottom line... it would be the same if the shoe was on the other foot. Reps were promised big commissions with the launch of the iPhone, this was not the reality... so they became disgruntled. In wireless retail, the largest part of ones paycheck comes from commission. If a sales rep knows that one device will generate a positive cash flow while another will do little for them, it is human nature to demonstrate the devices that will generate revenue. That doesn't excuse rudeness or employees lack of motivation to show the iPhone. In wireless, as in any industry, they are still service people who should be there to meet the needs of the customer. I think those needs would be best met by doing away with commission in the sales environment. Apple does not pay its employees commission and they are all very happy to assist and demonstrate products. My local At&t;store does have the iPhones on display and I have a couple of good friends who work in sales who haven't made any noises about not wanting to sell the iPhone... but, my personal choice is to always go to the Apple store for Apple products. Is that the case for any true Mac fan?

Right now a lot of the postings regarding the AT&T;employees and their motivation (or lack of) is speculative. Do any MacDailyNews readers/forum posters personally know folks employed at the AT&T;corporate stores?

It would be interesting to find out what they're being told (or not told) to do by their managers, regional store reps, etc. on up the chain to AT&T;corporate. This could paint an interesting picture regarding two company cultures that likely have differing views on what it means to provide good customer service.

If there are any stories to be told, these folks could post anonymously without fear of getting caught. I've been at the receiving end of some bad behavior at one of their stores, and I'd like to know the root cause of it.

I went to the Thousand Oaks, CA ATT store yesterday. There was a display for three iPhones... only one iPhone was available the other two were missing. Looks like ATT does not want you to see iPhones. People were waiting to get their turn to see the iPhone and they were not happy. The staff did not seem to care.

You know what everybody?! This is the problem with commission systems. I WORK at the Apple Store and have sold hundreds of iPhones. Do I get commissions? Hell NO. I don't get ANYTHING but my hourly wage, which I find is awesome. I'm not pushed to sell anything, but what the customer wants. That's my corporation's ideology and it's great. Just b/c AT&T;'s snotty little workers wanna make extra cash should not translate to poor customer service with the iPhone. They should be glad Apple decided to work with them in the first place. This phone is something to marvel and they're treating it like it's the end of their salary. I hate these kinds of companies, they're more obsessed with the sale than they are with the customer's wants and needs. SO TO EVERYBODY OUT THERE!! IF YOU WANT A GREAT BUYING EXPERIENCE, GO TO YOUR LOCAL APPLE STORE! We know what we're doing!

Hey Verizon was offered the deal with Apple first. They turned it down cold. Too bad for us and them. We'd have had a phone capable of much better bandwidth.

On a different note, I hope Google succeeds in cracking open wireless for consumers with their proposal to have an open standard on wireless communications - that will spur competition in the wireless arena and someday the iPhone and its competing technologies will be available to the rest of us..... for a reasonable price and choice.

well I went into my local apple store in the walt whitman mall in ny and they had like 15 units 10 standalone and 5 hooked to imacs sitting there no problem used one for like 45 minutes or so making absolute sure I wanted one and I loved it probably going in to buy one tomorrow I have no issues with the carrier phone and or any related issues...

Go to an Apple store or buy them online from Apple (free shipping).

You won't have to deal with any of the scumbags from AT&T;, Apple will make more money--vote with your wallet, I always say--and the experience will be fun and pleasant.

I really don't understand why anyone would have to deal with AT&T;unless they absolutely had to.

Sure, I am salty that I am locked into those dirt merchants with their criminal customer service, spying for Bush and the MPAA, etc., etc.

But minimize your interaction with those scumbags...

This doesn't make much sense. I bought mine at an AT&T;store, everyone was friendly and helpful. I went to another and was told they don't carry it. Both were converted Cingular stores. I wonder how may AT&T;stores are NOT carrying the iPhone...kinda foolish to ignore sales.

People should remember from the release info that ATT has TWO kinds of stores. The first kind, owned by the company (about 1,800) is selling the iPhone. The rest, all franchises, are NOT YET selling the iPhone.

That's why some have it, and some don't.

One ATT store near me sold them from the first day, and the other doesn't have them at all.

At some later point, they will all be selling them. Most likely, the franchise stores are trying to move you away from the phone because they do want to make a sale, and as they don't have the iPhone, they aren't happy, and resent it.

Can you blame them?

When they get the phones, it will be different.

As for a few stores that do have the phone where they aren't doing well by their customers, I would advise letting ATT know. They WON'T be happy.

I bought mine last Friday and the salesperson made a big deal about how he has to check the back to see if they have any, "not sure if we have the 8 gig.." . This went on for a little bit and the girl who greeted me said "We HAVE them, just go get one." . The whole thing seemed bizarre to me but this sheds some light on it.

The ATT kiosk in the Pyramid Mall in Ithaca, NY will not show anyone the iPhone. I (an adult over 50) asked more than once and they simply said they have them to sell, but would not show me one. This is nuts of course and surely will negatively impact sales. After finally buying a phone blindly on faith in Apple it is clear that anyone who can see it and try it will be much more likely to buy one. ATT is hurting apple big time. Fortunately the imuchmore thanaphone is so good that Apple may be able to drag along the dead weight of ATT.

My gosh!!

The night the iPhone was released, I went in to an AT&T;store in North Alabama asking to see the iPhone. The 'receptionist / manager' asked if I was going to buy one. I said I might, but I'd just like to see one, first. She would not let me see it. I was directed to a brochure.

I finally got around to talking to one of 10 salesmen (maybe 20 years old) and he told me they had plenty in the back room. I just assumed it must be an Apple policy.

I didn't think anything about it at the time, but this article has made me think that perhaps they were deliberately not letting me see one.

I was probably going to buy it but I wanted to see it first. They would not let me see it and basically didn't explain why. I'm in my mid 30's, FWIW.

One week after iphone was available I called a local ATT store in small town near where I live, (didnt even know there was a store there), attendant was very polite, said they had iphones available (which really surprised me) and would put one asside for me, took my name and number down. I drove there a couple of hours later, asked specifically for her, she remembered my name (guess they had not had many request for the iphone in such a small town) and promptly brought it out to me, showed me accessories that I might want to consider, and I did purchase the clear plastic case, and then I completed my purchase, and drove home. So I could not have been more pleased with that stores service and friendly personel but then hey Im in Louisiana and everyone is friendly here!

Go to the AT&T;Website. See if you can find anything anywhere about the iPhone without actually putting that in the search box. The iPhone is not even mentioned anywhere.

Sorry, I meant go to the AT&T;Wireless website. The iPhone is mentioned on the AT&T;corporate website

Went to the AT&T;store in North Charlotte, NC today (Northlake Mall). There were no iPhones on display. I asked if they had any iPhones and they said yes but the displays were removed because the alarms were too sensitive and would go off every time someone picked one up. They said that someone was fixing the alarms today. There is a rule in retail that if something is not on the shelf it is more difficult to sell.

A friend of mine who went to a Cingular (ATT) store in Miami on Saturday to buy a iPhone was talked out of it by the salesman. They claimed that the iphone had too many problems, did not perform well and that the battery life was terrible. In the end they persuaded him to buy a Blackberry ....
I would like to have comments on this please. Are there serious issue with the iphone that we don't know about or are the ATT salespeople in the 'pockets' of RIM ?
Thanks ...
AdeG

Your friend was a victim of the mindless anti-Apple FUD perpetuated by know nothings. If you got to Best Buy or Future Shop you will find the same thing: WinTel Zombies who don't understand Apple and therefore repeat the same tired anti-Apple arguments, many of which were never true in the first place.

If your friend is not working for a company with proprietary Blackberry services in place, then he was robbed.