My guess the longer wait is because the ATT employees were having to answer the questions on data plans and activate the phone on the spot.

All the Apple stores had to do was ring the product up and let the customer activate their phone thru iTunes.

my experiences were exactly the same as mr. beacham's.

after debating whether or not to buy an iPhone, i eventually decided to wait for the 3G version whenever it comes out. my friend and i were still itching to play around with one, so we went to the apple store in la jolla, CA around 6 PM.

the scene was crazy. the line stretched all the way through the food court, and the apple employees were chanting and cheering as each customer left the store.

amused, we drove over to an AT&T store to check out the scene there. there were probably less than 50 people in line, but it looked more like the line for a soup kitchen than an overpriced gadget. everybody looked anxious and dejected, and there was no enthusiasm.

the AT&T drones only let 1 or 2 people in every 10 minutes. there were even 3 orange shirted workers just standing around, talking with one another. any attempts to find out how many iPhones were left were fruitless until the manager came out an hour later to tell people that they were out of the 8GB model and only had 3 of the 4GB version left.

then he went into this whole spiel about how they were doing a "direct fulfillment" plan, which was pretty much a preorder for a product that's already been released. he couldn't say how long it would take to get your iPhone, only that you would eventually get one. at that point, the crowd dispersed.

I don't think anyone ever questioned how much AT&T was going to suck.
But when it comes to customer service, Verizon is just as horrible. They do their best to get your money and leave you miserable.
While Apple isn't perfect, this isn't their underlying goal. The customer experience is very important to them.

AT&T and Verizon see themselves as providing things that people will want no matter how poorly they treat their customers.

I'm not a large fan of AT&T, but my store in the suburbs of Atlanta had excellent customer service and handled the iPhone release quite well. They provided answers to questions, were walking around conversing with customers, and made it clear that did not know how many phones they had in stock until 6PM. At that point they kept it a bit hush-hush, but if you watched the employees closely they would use hand signals or whisper (not so quietly) the remaining amount of iPhones. This is how I found out that I got one of their last 8GB iPhones, and when I asked if it were true, my eavesdropping was confirmed.
I'm sure the experience at the Apple Store was much more streamlined than SOME AT&T stores, but I have no complaints.
Sincerely,
An Apple Fanboy

If Apple could, I bet they would just sell the phone at their stores and not even bother with AT&T. AT&T's stores are like any other cellphone company's stores: The employees are there because it's their job to be there, not because of any affinity for the product. I worked at an Apple Store, and checked out the atmosphere at one yesterday, and it was totally different. Sadly, I didn't get to actually play around with the iPhone, so I went to an AT&T store near my house. Two of them, in fact. At both, there wasn't even a display model of the iPhone available, and the employees just gave very curt answers before I even finished asking my question. Awful service. I guess I'll go check out an Apple store tomorrow.

Haha, eh for the most part it was true, I was at an AT&T store and they locked themselves inside the store even after 6pm, letting in only 5 people at a time. It felt very rushed and wouldn't let my friend leave the store until after he had his credit checked (new customer). AT&T Didn't tell you that they were out of the 8gb phones until you were inside of the store. And once they sold out (10 people behind me) they didn't let them know until it was their turn. And they only opened the door just enough so that you could squeeze through into the store to buy one.

AT&T even had bags that would seal with some glue so that their customers wouldn't try and sneak in extra accessories on their way out of the back door by the dumpsters.

I had not thought that the apple store would have had enough units so I went to the AT&T store, but I would have preferred the hospitality over not getting a unit if I had the option.

I'm at the apple store typing this shiz...
woohoo... This iphone is sweet!

I can pretty much second his experience. We had the fortune of a brand new Mac store having it's grand opening last night at 6 p.m. The line to get in wrapped around the building, but Apple employees were constantly interacting with the crowd. Across the mall at the AT&T store, I went it around 6:30 just to LOOK at the phone. I was promptly stopped at the door, asked if I planned on purchasing a phone, and asked to leave when I told them I wasn't.

I went back to the Apple store, still with a line, and mentioned to an employee that I just wanted to take a look at the phone. No problem he said. He went back in the store and came out with not one, but 5 iPhones for myself and other bystanders to interact with. Talk about excellent service.

So what did I do with my hands on the Lord's Phone? I made a phone call to a buddy in news, telling him I'd been molested by the iPhone. It was a glorious feeling.

I'll be purchasing one when my contract with Verizon is up in a year. Perfect timing for Apple to work out the kinks, and me to get my index finger up to par.

I had a better experience with AT&T. I still hate them but they took care of us in line. They didn't want to tell us how many phones they had but they did let us know when the 8 gigs were sold out. They gave out bottled water and crackers to all the ones in line. Also, restaurants were giving us coupons for free food. The AT&T employees tried signing us up to "free wifi". When I told them I had Comcast and loved it, they tried saying they could beat it and asked what I paid. I said $30 a month for 10 megs. Immediately they responded "no, you have to pay more for that from Comcast. There's no way you pay that." I say OK. Hell no I'm not going back to AT&T's garbage DSL.

With my nearest Apple Store about an hour away, I ended up going to the AT&T store right around the corner from my house.
By and large, it was a pretty good experience. Though the Florida heat was stifiling, the store Manager, Mark, was outside the entire time (I was in line 4 hours) directing people to the end of the line and making sure that they were aware of the service contract and the need to own a computer so that their time in line wouldn't have been wasted by finding out some deal-breaking info as they were handed the box.
A couple times throughout the day, an employee came around and offerend everyone complementary bottled water.
6 people at a time were allowed in the store, to ensure a 1:1 customer/representative ratio.
The only weird things were that no one was allowed to open the phone in the store, as the box was sealed in a bag. If you returned the phone and the bag had been opened, there would be a 10% restocking fee.
Also, they didn't seem to know that customers could get their credit approval through iTunes and, as I didn't want my credit run in-store, I almost wasn't able to get the phone. In the end, I convinced them (Mark, the aforementioned manager, clarified things for them) but I think they'd still try to get credit run in-store because that's where they get their commission numbers.

My experiences were somewhat similar. I arrived at one of the AT&T Corporate stores in the Salt Lake valley about 20 minutes before 6:00 pm, and was maybe the 38th person in line. About five minutes before 6:00 pm, the store manager came out to let us all know how things were going to proceed, and when asked, told us they had 40 phones total, 30 of the 8GB and 10 of the 4GB, and they were only going to sell one-per-person. He also explained the 3-5 day fulfillment for those who wanted to purchase one after they'd sold out their units, making a point to say those ordering would get their units before his store was restocked. Realizing my chances were not good to get an 8GB model, I called friends who'd been camping out at the Apple Store downtown all day, and asked them to pick one up for me just in case. (They were about 50th in line, having arrived at 9:00 am that morning.)
About 6:35 pm, I was five-back from the door when the manager came out to let us know they'd sold out of the 8GB units. I called my friends, who were already home, finished activating their phones, and waiting for their numbers to transfer over from T-Mobile.
I drove over to their house, making a brief stop at the Apple store for some accesories (8:00 pm-ish, and there was a five-ten-minute wait outside the store so as not to break Fire Code limits on maximum occupancy), got home, and had my phone activated and running within about five minutes (as I've been with AT&T even before Cingular bought them).
All in all, definitely a tale of two philosophies on Customer Service.
My big question though, is why weren't AT&T stores allocated more units? Apple clearly hasn't sold out in their stores, even today; so why didn't they give AT&T more units to sell?

I was not set to purchase an iPhone, somehow I'm still undecided because I'm an impulse shopper so after reading all these posts today I said what the hell.

So I have called AT&T going on 6 times where the phone will just ring and ring with no answer like they have left the building.

A co-worker told me he stopped by and they were all out of iPhones, if that is the case what are they so "busy" doing if they have no iPhone business to transact?!?!

I am not going to shoot down the hopes of getting an iPhone but this certainly is not helping what-so-ever.

I had a very similar experience in San Francisco. I was about 60th in line at a downtown AT&T store, after an hour, they'd only gotten through about 40 people. At that point the AT&T dummy came out and said they were running out of 8Gb models (having earlier said they had lots of iPhones). Fortunately someone was kind enough to drop by and say that the line at the Apple store was already gone and they still had phones left, I walked over there, and was in and in 5 minutes flat.

@psavas:

you say that you've been with AT&T since before the buyout? did you ever start a new plan since then, or are you still renewing your old AT&T plan? i was told by a few different AT&T reps that i wouldn't be able to add the $20 data plan, i'd have to transition over to an entirely new plan altogether.

I had a somewhat different experience then others at my AT&T store here in Oklahoma City. GRAFXGUY you must be in Tulsa, OK. Anyways, I showed up at the AT&T store at 5:45. I work in the medical field and had a surgery start late and that kind of messed up my chances of getting in line early. Anyways I was either buying an iPhone or another phone, because my Razr died Friday morning.

So, I was number 69 in line. The staff was outside trying to get the crowd pumped up. Which wasn't really working. So I get into the store at about 6:45 pm. They only allowed 9 people in the store at once. One ticket holder per sales agent.
Anyways, I got home and ate and then decided to do the activation. WELL, my iTunes said it didn't have a sim card in the phone. So I went back to the store. They messed with the sim card and said to try again. I came home, and what do you know. It didn't work, so I called Apple and they said to go get a new sim card in the morning.

So, I awoke this morning and went to the AT&T store to get a new sim card. This time I was armed with my Macbook. Well, the people at the store looked at it and I showed them the error message. So we determined that it was a bad phone. Well, I guess Apple wants the DOA phones shipped back to them to be fixed.

This put me in a bad spot since my Razr was now dead I was going to have to buy a new phone till my iPhone was going to be able to be replaced. But, I was able to talk the AT&T rep into letting me exchange the broken iPhone for a new one. Which they are not supposed to do. Needless to say, I was super pleased with AT&T. But I'm one of the customers that has always had a great experience with them.

Yup... almost same story here. I went to the local at&t shop around 7:30pm and there were about 15 people in line. I only stood there for about 20-30min before I saw the store manager having a hush-hush conversation with two people next in line to come in. The rest of us were curious what was up, and he finally let it slip that they only had 1 left and he was trying to decide who to give it to. But it was clear he had no intention of telling the rest of us inline. Instead he kept repeating - "You can still buy one now and we'll ship it later!" Yeah right, dude. Must. Have. Now.
So I drove to the apple store in Burlingame, CA at about 8:30 and I was in and out of there within 5min. with my shiny new toy.

I got mine at the Apple Store in the Florida Mall (Orlando), and it was very easy, overall. I got on line about 5:30, but since they'd filled up the area in front of the store, they had us walk down the mall to a fire exit hall(!). Right after 6:00, they came and led us around outside, so we could get on line at the tail end of the early folks. Worked out well. The line kept moving fast, and they had the folks who were just browsing go to the right side of the store (left side was those of us who were buying).

I had my 8 GB in my hands before 6:35 - they sold us the phones, then had a line for accessories (got a little case for it). By 6:45, I was climbing on my motorcycle to go home.

Now, after I got home and tried activation, things sorta... stopped...

(Really old calling plan, and when I ran things through iTunes, I hit the "you will receive an email confirmation" brick wall - but the AT&T folks have been very, very nice and apologetic on the phone while telling me I was dead in the water.

I have always used Cingular as my cell carrier and have been very happy with them. I was displeased when AT&T bought a controlling interest in the company because I kinow AT&T. You see, I used to work for them.

It was 20 years ago, not that long after divestiture (what they called the breaking up of their monopoly) and they still had no idea how to compete in the marketplace. They still acted as if they were a monopoly and could do whatever they wanted without people jumping ship to another carrier. Plus, they treated their employees like crap. That's where I met my best friend and he will also tell you how horrible it was.

Knowing how slow they were to adopt new business tactics in the mid-80's it doesn't surprise me that they'd still be acting like they have no competition and you either like it or not.

Honestly, I'm not all that surprised that AT&T stores are "shooting themselves in the foot" over the iPhone. I'm a long tiime subscriber to Cingular/AT&T wireless, or whatever they wish to call themselves this week, dating all the way backed to the old CellularOne days (ya know, when phones used to be a five billion pound bag that made you look as if you worked for some discreet intelligence organization) and I've always found that the people whom work in those stores were amongst the rudest curs out there. Even if you went in with the simplest question, they always seemed to go out of their way to be as useless as possible. Heck, when I had a problem with my current phone, the guys over at the local "radiohut" were more knoledgeable and helpful (not to mention the cracking voices and acne enshrined faces were slightly more comforting then the fake smiles and clueless expressions at AT&T).

Very similar experience at the AT&T store in the Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City, NJ. The main staffer assigned to handle the crowd was very unpleasant and answered any questions on availability with a smirk. Finally a customer came out and told the crowd no phones were left.

Of course, when I got to the SoHo Apple store, there were plenty an the line was very short. The Apple employees were courteous and very efficient.

It seems like Apple took this release far more seriously than AT&T. They certainly have a stronger emphasis on customer satisfaction.

Overall, I had a pretty good experience at the AT&T Store in Columbus, Georgia (10th Street location).

Once the store finally opened at 6 pm - 5 people were allowed to enter the store. Additional customers could enter as soon as a previous customer left the store.

Some people took 15 minutes or more inside the store, because they felt compelled to play with the iPhone display after their purchase. This of course upset the crowed outside.

However, things did move along fairly quickly after the initial 10 people entered the store.

I purchased my iPhone and a case, as well as completed the pre-credit check in no time at all. My experience was good all the way around - no complaints.

The iPhone works as advertised, as well as the registration process.

I love my iPhone!!!

I had a pretty good experience at the AT&T store in Clearview Mall near New Orleans. There isn't an Apple Store closer than Houston so I had no choice. I'd gone to Target around noon and saw that there were only three people in line. I went in and asked how many phones they had and how it would fit in with my current rate plan and he said straight up that they had 40, so I came back for 3:30. Someone from AT&T was constantly offering us free water and popcorn, and there was music playing for us and everything. When it came time to get the phones, only six people were allowed in at one time, but I was seventh so that didn't really bother me. The glued bag was a bit annoying but I got over it.

Well I had a great experience in a smaller central Florida city that has 2 AT&T stores. Nearest Apple store is 50 miles so I decided to stay local.

Arrived at 3:00 PM and there were 14 people in line ahead of me. By 6:00 the line had grown to about 56 people. The AT&T employees were very nice to us all, handing out waters and stuff the whole time. About once and hour the manager would stroll the line giving out info updates and answering questions he could. It was a reassuring experience.

About 5:00 he handed out some paperwork for those unfamiliar with the iPhone, the rate plans and process for signing up and the costs of the phones and accessories in stock. By 5:30 he walked the line announcing how many phones were in and ready to sell but not a breakdown of 4 gigi and 8 gig. He counted the line and announced that he had enough for everyone. At 5:45 he announced the breakdown of 40 8 gig and 20 4 gig. He also assured those who looked like they would miss the 8 gig that more would arrive on Saturday.

Once inside it was a quality experience, and I did not expect that in a non Apple store. No pressure or hard sell, just 4 or 8gig and they did ask one if I wanted any accessories. A prompt no ended that. My clerk fumbled on his computer putting in my info and had to redo it once, the manager was right there to make sure he did it right (I think he was in training).

I would give it a 8.5 out of 10 for the experience. Overall it was the best cell phone store experience I ever had.

Way to go Apple and AT&T. I hope there are many successful years for this partnership in the future.

I waited in line at an AT&T store near me for four hours thinking those stores would have shorter lines resulting it a better chance of getting an 8GBer. I was about number 20 in line. Got up to the counter at about 6:15 PM. The sales associate says "I am sorry we just ran out of 8GBers". I wasn't too thrilled at this point. So I gave up and went home.

Later on, around 11:30 PM, I decided to check the iPhone inventory page at apple.com. All three Apple stores near me still had "green lights". I called the closest store and they said they had plenty of 8GBers. Drove down there and picked one up.

My experience at the Apple store was top notch compared to the AT&T store. The biggest surprise is the ability to activate thru iTunes. That's an industry changing process. No more standing around some kiosk or store waiting for some sales associate to set up your account. The process was very smooth for me since I was already a customer. My iPhone was up and running in a couple of minutes.

AT&T is, sadly, my only option. I am hunderds of miles from an Apple Store, and my local AT&T sold out of 8GB and 4GB iPhones early yesterday. I asked the kid at the door when they'll get some more, his answer, verbatium, "Uhhh... Hey, uhh... Franklin, when we's gonna get some more of dem iPhones?" Franklin: "I 'on't know. 'Marrow?"
Note: Tomorrow is Sunday, both AT&T and shipping channels will be closed.
I, sadly, must wait and deal with Franklin again.

@jedibugs: FYI- The pre-approved credit check has nothing to do with commission, rather it is done as a courtesy so that you don't get a surprise when you get home and discover that you have a $700 deposit after you have already opened your iphone (hence incurring a 10% restocking fee if you decide to return it). In addition you can only pay for a deposit at an AT&T store so they are trying to prevent you from having to come back to the store if you discover that you have a deposit after you get home.

Apple store on the other hand do not run credit and they cannot accept deposits, so this might explain some of the differences between the sales practices.

As much as I want an iPhone, I would never never never switch to AT&T. Verizon is bad but every dealing I've had or friends of mine have had with AT&T were absolutely horrific? How about paying the cancellation fee on a two year contract with only 2 months to go? That's right, AT&T did that.

So I'll sit back and wish that Apple would have had the sense to go into the wireless business ala Boost.

I went in to an apple store for the first time today, to buy an iphone. I was very surprised at their wonderful customer service. Yes, they were swamped with lots of people--not only buying iphones--but doing other things as well, but they remained calm, VERY courteous, and very happy. I was amazed. Maybe it was just my luck, but if all apple stores are like this, then maybe apple should serve as a model for modern american businesses.

Well i bought one at our local ATT place about 7:30 wait under 5 mins. 2 people in line. Real small town. Then i bought 2 more 8gb units today no wait :P

They said they ran out of the iphones this morning but the manager drove to a smaller town 45 mins away and got theirs.

:)

Please place your bids here for me to go get you one.

Oh and the ATT wait was not from activation...you do that at home on your mac or pc :)

There are ATT fanboys???

@ANIMADVERTO:

By the way, iPhones can only be activated on your own computer at home with iTunes. In case you wondered, it's [www.apple.com] ... It's a little-known website, but it tells you just about everything you need to know.

I had a positive AT&T experience in Scottsdale AZ even though it was about 110 degrees and sunny. The AT&T guys were giving out water, chap-stick, and small hand-held fans and interacting with the people in line. They also let the people at the end of the line (after about postion 100) know that they may not get a phone that day. They did perform the annoyingly long credit checks but their attitudes were very customer centric.

Oh, and I got an iPhone with no problem whatsoever this morning at The Domain in Austin. I got two, in fact. Showed up a little over an hour before 9am and was #2 in line. The Apple employees were all very nice and checkout was lightning fast! Go Apple!!

I'll second this. The purchasing process at the Apple Store (5th Avenue store in NYC, the "cube") was amazing. The iPhone is stunning. The packaging is stunning. Even the bag they put it in was stunning. My kids even fought over who got to hold the box on the drive home!

Activating with AT&T was painful, because I was already an AT&T customer. Unfortunately I'm a "business" customer (I have a blackberry phone on a "business" data plan), and the iPhone is a "consumer" phone, so they refuse to activate it on my account to replace the blackberry. And they are apparently unable to migrate a phone number from a "business" account to a "consumer" account. The people that might potentially be able to convert my account are only available Monday-Friday, 9-5. This means that due to internal AT&T politics, my iPhone is a paperwork until at least Monday.

To be fair, they did offer to activate the iPhone with a new account with a new phone number, because they know how to do that. Alternatively, I could transfer my account to another carrier, and then back to AT&T, since they're required by law to be able to do that. I didn't pursue those options for some reason.

Good thing no other blackberry users would be tempted to move to the iPhone, or AT&T customer support would be having a terrible couple of days.

Due to shorter line, I went to a local AT&T store. someone in line knew someone so I knew they had 30 8GB and 10 4GB. 7 registers at once and they were still only able to sell a dozen people an hour! At seven, they finally told the people at the end of the line they were not going to get one ( which AT&T could have told them two hours earlier. ) AT&T could have given out numbers so we could hav waited in air-conditioned Starbucks. and no, they were not signing people up for data plans or anything.

nice friendly AT&T people but obviously a big company that did not care about customers or efficiency.

While in line, I remarked "this is why Apple stores are so successful"

Why did Apple even bother with a 4GB model? Who's going to early adopt the "second best" model that still costs $500?
I had the same problem with the XBox 360 "core" and "premium"....no on wanted the core. Even soccer moms knew crap when they saw it.
Even Sony dropped the 20GB PS3 after a while to go exclusive with the 60GB model...if you have an extra 500 dollars, you probably have an extra $600.

No on wants to drop a crap load of money to get an expensive gadget that's almost as good as the one that costs a bit more.

I got my iPhone at an AT&T store in Hazleton, Pa. The manager kept coming outside to talk, explained the phone plans to those unfamiliar with them, carried water to people, and was great all around.

The other store employees were great as well, and the line was short (under 50 people). My daughter wanted an iPhone really bad agyer seeing mine, so my wife and I went back tp the store around 7PM. To my surprise, they still had an 8 GB left, which we bought.

True to my belief, the Apple store had really high class workers while the AT&T store didn't. After rising from the ashes, AT&T is still the name with the substance far trailing behind. Oh! Where are the Bell Labs and Lucent of old? AT&T bosses should take this to heart and put into place plans and initiatives to earn that logo which used to mean first class R&D and services.

It sounds as if the apple experience has been consistently decent, eveen enjoyable. I think that it boils down to training. This is not a fluke. AT&T stores always seem to err on the side of neglecting their customers

My experience at apple stores is always positive but last night was astonishing. My wife and I went to the mall, had dinner and got in line around 6:15pm. The apple employees were interacting, handing out water and keeping us as informed as possible about whether or not there were still phones available. By 7:00pm we were in the car driving home.

What is clear to me, an AT&T customer since 1996, is that it's business as usual at AT&T but the real revolution with iPhone is that Apple has pole vaulted the competition and seriously raised the bar on usability, service and the user experience both in and around the product.

@ScotteusMaximus:

I didn't have to buy a new plan. During the setup on iTunes, I was informed of the $20 data plan, accepted it, and just moved on. If someone is telling you that you need a new plan, I would ask to speak with management (the AT&T store reps work on partial commissions). If management gives you the same song-and-dance, then go to a different store.

Seriously. All I did was tell them I was replacing an existing phone number on my plan, and off I went. No fuss, no muss.

@psavas: Give the AT&T reps a break. My guess is the he was informed that he would have to choose a new plan because he was on an old AT&T Wireless rate plan (pre-Cingular), rather than a Cingular/new AT&T plan. If he was on an old AT&T Wireless plan, itunes will prompt him to select a new voice plan. Again, they were just trying to give him all the info he needed before he made the purchase and was subject to the Apple's 10% restocking.

I also guess that you were (and still are) on a Cingular plan and that is why you only had to choose a data plan.

Nosauten...they are.....thats how apple is.

And yes their C/S has won many many awards.

Psavas....unless you have a business plan..then you have to get a new plan..

iPhone not available for business plans

Friday 4:30pm, ran away from work and lined up at the AT&T store on 53rd Street and 6th Avenue. We were about 60th in line at the time. The hour and a half until 6pm went fast. Lots of interesting people in line, mostly Midtown worker types like me. Very New York scene, totally diverse ethnically (if not economically - it was obvious that these were rather affluent folks). A few paid line-sitters got swapped out with those who hired them but with only a couple exceptions (the guy in the brown t-shirt's family) very nice people in line, about 100-120 by opening time.

6pm the store opens, only 7 people allowed in. We're excited, won't be long now. 6:10, same 7 people still in there. 6:20 I go over to the part of the line by the window and ask another guy in line what's up - he can see the computer screens of the sales assistants. Computers crashed, he said, and sure enough I could see the Microsoft Windows Blue Screen of Death on their machines.

6:45pm there's a stir and mild applause - a customer has completed a transaction! 45 minutes and ONE GUY has an iPhone. I called 411 and got the store's #. The AT&T employee who answered, when I told him I was outside in the line, said "we'll tell you something when we have something to tell you" and hung up.

By 7:30, 3 of the original group of 7 were still in the store so one of the guys in line volunteered to run over to the Apple Cube and call someone in our line to let us know what was up. He called and said the Cube line was big