Filed under: iPhone
UK iPhone launch hampered by IE?
Computerworld is reporting that our friends in the UK have been frustrated by the iPhone 3G launch. It would seem that while the iPhone 3G is for sale in Apple Stores, the activation process isn't working smoothly (sound familiar?). Why is that, you ask? Because O2, that's the UK wireless company that has the iPhone, uses an activation system that only works with IE. Apple had to install Fusion on the Macs in the UK Apple Stores in order to activate iPhones on the spot, and it seems that the system isn't working as smoothly as many would like.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Adam K said 11:21AM on 7-11-2008
hahahaha
blaming IE for Apple's systems not working? Good one.
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bob said 11:32AM on 7-11-2008
o2's systems.
Stephen Downing said 11:22AM on 7-11-2008
Only O2 could do something this stupid
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Andrew Mason said 11:24AM on 7-11-2008
I was first in line at the Leeds O2 store this morning. Got my phone at 0802. It is now 1625 and my phone is still not activated. All systems were down and we had to fill in a manual paperwork form.
Still waiting......
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Paulo said 2:29PM on 7-11-2008
I am still waiting to activate my iphone. Bloody ridicilous!
S_Bruv said 11:27AM on 7-11-2008
It's really quite scary just how hopeless O2 have been over every aspect of this so-called 'launch'.
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Dave said 11:29AM on 7-11-2008
"Disaster" is too weak a word for what happened in London today.
It was near chaos in the Apple Store on Regent Street this AM; I entered the store at 8:10AM and didn't leave with an activated iPhone until almost 1PM.
O2 staff at the store to "help" were arrogant and argumentative.
Apple staff were great, gave us coffee & biscuits, but couldn't do much to address the failings of their "partner".
O2, I'm going to claim one month's free service from you, otherwise I will take this to Trading Standards, OFCOM or whomever I can find that regulates you.
I've seen startup that performed better on day one.
Total BS.
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Codey H. said 11:41AM on 7-11-2008
Safari using IE7 Agent? not working?
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Aetherius said 11:43AM on 7-11-2008
hampered by IE?! that's just silly. the activation is made within ITUNES ONLY!
check your sources guys.. i thought you'd be more accurate ;)
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Dave said 11:50AM on 7-11-2008
Well, I was there and you're partially correct.
At the end of the process, iTunes does indeed activate the iPhone.
Everything else BEFORE activation had to be done via O2's generic web site. It was a pitiful performance, frequently freezing, locking up, etc.
All too often O2 tech support advised the Apple staff to "reboot". Thankfully in in the VM this was trivial, but even so a big mess.
I was concerned as each step had to be repeated several times. Complete one step, the next would freeze, then you'd have to start over.
They ran the credit check on me at least four times. The guy across from me got through all eight steps (before iTunes) in about four hours, same as me, only to learn that because his birthdate was wrong (transposed two digits), O2 wanted him to do it all over.
Yep.
He went ballistic, got Apple to intercede and think it was ok, but I'm not sure. He was still there when I left with my activated iPhone.
As I mentioned, I've seen startups that have performed better on day one.
If O2 were trying to give the impression they'd never done this before, they succeeded.
Otherwise --- FAIL.
Chris Coleman said 11:47AM on 7-11-2008
I'm pretty sure that's the least of anyone's problems right now.
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James said 11:49AM on 7-11-2008
My o2 store resorted to paper only, no messing with computers. Lucky they did, we would have been there all day.
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Matt Grover said 12:00PM on 7-11-2008
I was one of the ones who managed to order my phone online, before O2 died.
It was delivered at around 13.30 today, I still haven't been able to activate it through iTunes, takes ages then an error code or time out error pops up
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PT said 12:01PM on 7-11-2008
I stood in a queue at an O2 store from 6 AM and was second in queue. By 8AM when the iphone 3G went officially on sale O2's system was absolutely overloaded. The girl who was processing my purchase had to re-enter information into a form on their system about 10 times. I took about 40 minutes on average to process one person, absolute collapse of O2's system.
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Matt Grover said 12:04PM on 7-11-2008
um... 2-3 days to activate???
"Customers new to O2 can start using their device once they have synced with iTunes and the phone account has been activated. When syncing with iTunes you may see 'Activation cannot be completed without service.' The activation of the mobile service for new customers will be within 2 to 3 days given the volume of sales on Friday."
That sucks!!
http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone
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Dave said 12:12PM on 7-11-2008
Matt the best thing you can do at this point is write a letter to O2, detailing your experience and asking for compensation; I'm planning to do this as well.
They should give everyone who had to go through this crap today one months free service. My time is valuable - TO ME. And for them to deploy something so unsuitable for purpose boggles the mind.
If O2 doens't have to pay they won't change.
When asked for an explanation, O2 reps at The Apple Store on Regents Street kept trying to explain away this mess by claiming "Unprecedented demand" which nobody was having. The crap was piled so deep that at one point even the Apple staff started pushing back, saying the number of iPhones to be sold today was by no means a surprise to O2.
I've got 14 days to cancel (as per my O2 contract), and I will be getting some money from them as compensation.
Stan said 12:14PM on 7-11-2008
I think IE was only part of the problem: http://tinyurl.com/6rcqxb
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Andy said 12:14PM on 7-11-2008
Same experience here. Luckily I was one of the first into the O2 store in Islington. The system there crashed as soon as they begun processing orders, it was almost comical. Luckily the staff there did a great job of processing orders manually (it took about 20 mins per person). While everyone's bashing O2 (understandably) I'd like to say well done to the guys on the floor who really did about as well as they could have.
Now if only the phone would actually activate..
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ecobore said 12:18PM on 7-11-2008
How TOTALLY Wanky is this!!!!! O2 are total assholes!
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redrox said 12:19PM on 7-11-2008
Yeah the store I went to wasn't even opened till 11:30 due to a shop refit being done up until zero hour. They almost instantly went to processing people by paper/manually because of the computer system being rammed. It clearly wasn't the staffs fault, just felt a total planning disaster. It felt like O2 hadn't planned anything. I have to wait for my actual phone number to be assigned in the next 24 hours. AND my phone won't activate via iTunes yet either. It just times out with an error dialogue box.
:(
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