- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
After years of anticipation, Verizon Wireless finally announced, in cooperation with Apple, that they would get the iPhone 4. This announcement has been something that I have been waiting for two years now. Years of unreliable service due to the unanticipated amount of data usage on AT&T‘s cellular sites has left many iPhone customers unhappy with their wireless service. When the iPhone 4 launches on Verizon, it will be interesting to see how many people switch from AT&T to Verizon. It will also be interesting to see how many current customers on Verizon Wireless were holding back from switching from AT&T, knowing the pour quality of service, that finally purchase the iPhone. Personally, i’m waiting to see what issues arrise on the Verizon Wireless network because of the influx of new iPhone customers.
As an AT&T customer with an Apple iPhone 4, I have been relatively pleased with my service over the past year and don’t see a reason for switching. Many other people however are having consistent connection problems that render their phones useless. It is especially bad for dense, highly populated cities, for AT&T to offer reliable service to all of their customers. My mom for example has a very difficult time getting signal, even with a MicroCell from AT&T. Her wireless service is horrible and the only reasonable service she has is through her land line.
Beginning with the iPhone, the amounts of data that carrier networks have to support has skyrocketed. AT&T simply wasn’t able to supply wireless resources for the demand that the iPhone would place on their towers. I noticed this a couple of years ago. There was a time where dropped calls were the norm and in urban settings in Orange County, CA signal and bandwidth was hard to come by. Now AT&T’s quality of service has at leased improved somewhat. This could very well be the fact however that I am very close to a reliable cellular antenna. However at work, they have installed more attenea’s so that iphone users can get better service where on a normal to busy night, iPhone users could not get data service of any kind.
The wireless capacity at cellular sites are not the only issue. This past year while pre-ordering devices through the AT&T website, their servers became overwhelmed which created chaos of many duplicate and lost pre-orders. This resulted in long lines for customers desperate to get an iPhone, that were not able to pre-order. Then on January 11th, Current Verizon customers were seeing issues visiting their customer portal to check for upgrade eligibility because Verizon’s website servers could not handle the load. Every year at launch time we see incredible lines of people waiting (as I did last year) in order to purchase or upgrade to the next version of the iPhone. Then within several hours, around the world there are thousands upon thousands of device activations going through network servers of AT&T at the same time. Every year we see AT&T’s servers become overwhelmed and result in many unhappy customers that cant use their phones for hours and sometimes even days.
- Image via Wikipedia
It seems as though various news sources are pointing out the high international demand for the iPad. One example was in Tokyo Japan where 1,200 people stood in line trying to purchase an iPad. This exemplifies the overwhelming demand of international customers for the iPad as Apple tries to overcome low supply levels in order to meet its unexpected interest. In the past month, the iPad has only been introduced in 10 of the 88 countries that will sell the product and is short on supply everywhere.
Personally I was not surprised or captivated with the iPad or the sales that it experienced. As a new type of device, not many people know why they want one or what they would use it for. Of those who have purchased an iPad, 91% say they are satisfied with their purchase. I would never purchase an iPad in its current form. Originally I was hoping that the iPad would be a smaller landscape product that was based more so off the OS X operating system than the iPhone OS. I want something with a file system that I can manipulate files on between applications. A device which automatically syncs files with my MacBook so I can work on things at home or on the go. My main purpose would be to work on a project at home on my MacBook and then take it with me to work on a mobile device and work on it during my breaks. Currently, I do not see how the iPad would fit in to my lifestyle.
I also was not impressed with the demand of the iPad. Maybe I had high expectations for what the iPad could have been but I thought that a tablet-like device should have sold more units up front. Rumors were giving higher numbers which I believed would have set a better pace but those numbers were inflated. It is difficult in one respect because an iPad and an iPhone are similar so many people do not see a reason to have an iPad if they already have an iPhone. On the other hand, I think people should understand the importance of the product more because they have been exposed to the iPhone for so long. For example: many people have been saying that the demand for the iPad is so much greater than the original iPhone. The millionth iPad was sold after 28 days rather than whereas the millionth iPhone was sold after 74 days. This is a great achievement for Apple but now that Apple has introduced the app store, sells millions of iPhones a quarter, and developers have created hundreds of thousands of apps, the million unit amount seems smaller than I would have expected.
- Image via Wikipedia
Reeling with excitement, I have no desire of falling asleep now. In 6 hours, Apple will release their new Apple tablet. I cant wait to hear about how Steve Jobs introduces this one. Supposedly a 10″ touch-screen tablet closely resembling a flattened first generation iPhone. It should have 3G connectivity, a front facing camera, and two dock connectors (for portrait or landscape positions). Hopefully it will have an OLED display.
It is said to be Steve Jobs’ most important product release yet. I can’t even imagine how it will surpass the iPhone. It will allow for downloads of book and most likely magazines and newspapers. You are said to interact with the tablet in a completely new way. I’m hoping it will be around $600. We shall see pretty soon.
