[Note from Judie - Stan sent this opinion piece in while I was at the ranch this weekend. I think it is still relevant, so here you go...]

Hey iPhone owners-in a phrase, Apple today has screwed up. Call it as is. And I love my iPhone, my MacBook Air and just about everything Apple (see my previous posts on my love of the iPhone). Even if you have one business model that produces a widget with a fabulous end to end user experience based a beautifully married hardware & software, you can still screw up big time on huge promises that lack the back office capability to execute as planned. How many thousands of new iPhone owners are right now sitting at home with bricked iPhones?

This is not a good situation. Unlike last year’s original iPhone debut, this one had a 22 country worldwide rollout. If you promise thousands of people worldwide to sell them an iPhone on July 11th, shouldn’t you plan to have the technology available to close the deal? Apple expected long lines so they should of planned for thousands of activations today.

An Apple employee running crowd control said they were staying open until 11pm tonight to sell people iPhones. This line looked to be about 150 feet long with over 100 customers at about 7:30pm EST.

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I waited 4 hours at an Apple store to buy what I thought was one iPhone, when hey what the heck, get two new ones… And pay it forward on the old one iPhone.

All I got was a warm bottle of water, good conversation with a African American brother who waited three hours prior at an AT&T store in the hot sun only to be sold out… And a guy wearing white sandals that had some serious personality issues.

Also get this – a guy drops out after an hour in line – he said he just couldn’t hang anymore when this dude walks up and tries to take his place.

MAJOR MAN LAW VIOLATION! We made him go to the back of the line, which were probably 75 deep. I was number 74, give or take 20.

I finally climb the four steps to the main walkway ready to enter the Apple store. My legs felt like I just climbed Mount Everest!

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I suspect that this is a scene which will be played out in cities across the country today: reader David Barton sent in this photo with the following comments…

When I was typing this message on my phone, I realized the spell checker on my BlackBerry doesn’t even know what the word iPhone is…  No need to, I’m sure on of these 80 people in line at 8:00 this morning can spell it.  I’m on the way to work. I’ll check back later to see if you can get near the AT&T store at The Greene in BeaverCreek, Ohio.

Have you noticed any lines in your city? Are you in one of them? I have to admit that I am totally off the hook, seeing as San Angelo has neither an Apple store nor an AT&T store that is shown as stocking iPhones; I got to sleep in until 8am this morning.

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In part 2 of this series, let’s continue to take a look at some of the heavier criticisms I’ve seen of the iPhone 3G…

In part 1 of this 2 part series, I started going through some of the harsher criticisms I’ve seen on the iPhone 3G. This week, I’m going to continue to go through them, giving everyone an clearer picture of what is being said about the device in general, and what I think is accurate and maybe not so accurate.

Again, while I was of the many iPhone-hypers on Monday 6/9/08, I really was pleased with the overall announcement of the new device.  While I do wish that it had been made available on the day that it was announced, life will go on.

 

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Engadget has these early photos of an iPhone 3G that has reportedly been obtained in Portugal by a lucky early purchaser. No word on where or how they obtained the device. Looks a lot like the older version to me — only $15/month more expensive for those in the United States who must subscribe to a 3G plan. More pictures on the next page. Can you feel the excitement?

iphone portugal via engadget

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Our man on the street, Wayne Schulz (he’s everywhere) just reported that the lines are beginning to form in front of the Apple Store in New York.

Wayne reports, “According to police the people began lining up this morning. Number one in line is a man and woman with a baby who’ve told the police and security guards that their goal is to set a record for time in line and possibly the first baby to wait with them (or some such nonsense).”

UPDATE:

“At about noon on July 4th while on a trip into New York City I noticed the first line forming for the 3G iPhone at the flagship Apple 5th Avenue Store in New York City. About 10 people in line with the first two being a man and woman with a young child. I talked to the security guards and New York police who will allow everyone to stay and indicated that as of yet there are no plans to put out barricades. It appears that most (if not all) of the people in line are part of some group who may be either attempting to set a record for waiting in line or gain some publicity for themselves. It’s too early to tell if this is a hoax/publicity stunt or whether these folks will stay in line through sun and rain for the next seven days”.

More photos after the break.

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OK… before the RUSH and nasty lines start forming over the weekend for all of you early adopters, let’s take a look at AT&T’s TOTAL 3G coverage in the US… The blue areas below, show just where all of their 3G networks are up and running.

• Blue = 3G
• Dark Orange = EDGE
• Light Oranage = GPRS
• Banded, Light Orange = Partner GPRS

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Why is everyone so quick to criticize?  The masses haven’t even seen the bloody thing yet..!

This is the first in a 2 part series related to some criticism I’ve hard on the iPhone 3G.  You’ll see the second part of this next week.

Ok… I admit it…I was one of the many iPhone-hypers on Monday 6/9/08…and I was really hoping that Steve would have had the stores stocked and ready to buy that day as well…but that’s just sour grapes now.

I’ve been watching a lot of commentary hit the air since all of the interesting announcements on Monday 6/9; and I’ve really tried to hold myself back, as I am certain that everyone and their brother is going to have something to say…but I just can’t leave it alone. Oh well…

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Subsidized or not subsidized?  Which is it, and will everyone get one for $199/$299?  Sheesh!

The iPhone 3G… EVERYONE is talking about it. Everyone. I hear at least 2 or three conversations about it every day (since the 6/9 WWDC announcement) here at the hospital (new job), and these are the biggest bunch of NON-geeks ever assembled in once place at one time.  If even the techno-phobic are interested in this puppy, you know it’s going to make a HUGE splash in both the consumer and enterprise spaces.

However, all of these conversations have one common theme, and I get asked this question at least 2-3 times in some of these conversations and people come and go through them, “If I’m not eligible for an upgrade, can I buy one; and at what price?”

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There isn’t an easier way to get your iPod’s sound out to a car stereo than using an FM transmitter. No wires, no cassette adapters, just plug it in, tune your radio to the right station and out comes your music.

Problem is at lot of the time they are rubbish. I have tried several over the years and none of them could produce a clear signal at any time, it was constantly crackly and awful. A few days ago when I received the USB Fever FM Transmitter I was expecting more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised.

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