Newton Poetry

The worst possible thing happened to me last Friday: I dropped my iPhone 3G and shattered the glass screen.

I say “worst possible” only because of the way I felt at the time. When I picked it up after dropping it on the tile floor at work, I nearly sobbed. It felt like my dog just died.

Friday’s incident wasn’t the first time I dropped my iPhone. Thankfully, each time before, I dropped it on its protective white case.

Last week, however, it landed like a piece of toast and jelly, business-side down.

I couldn’t tell whether the awful screeching sound was from the phone or from me, but I knew right away that something terrible just happened. Picking it up from the floor, turning it over to see the damage, I felt my face grow pale. Everyone has to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, I reasoned, even in non-combat situations.

This was it. My phone was doomed. It turned on, luckily. The touchscreen still worked. But now there was a horrible spider-web crack across the top half of the screen. It was more than damaged – it was shattered. I took it back to my work desk and just stared at it.

Then I did some research. I didn’t opt for the Apple Care plan, so I was on my own financially. The best I could do is take it to my nearest Apple Store and see what they could do. From everything I read online, the best option was to pay $200 and have the Apple Store mechanic replace the glass screen. iPhone 3GSs are nice, but my phone was fine, and I don’t qualify for an upgrade. Not yet.

The glass replacement is exactly what happened, but that’s only half the story.

I took it to the Ann Arbor Apple Store, at the Briarwood Mall, and explained my situation to the Geniuses. My option was exactly as I had figured: $200 for a new glass screen ($100 of that is just for labor). And it was a quick fix. I had my iPhone back in about 10 minutes. When the Genius gave it back, I clicked on the wake button, saw that the iPhone was alive and kicking, and headed out the door.

When I got home, however, I found that the home button on the phone wasn’t working. I would open an app, get done with it, and click the home button to return to the iPhone screen. But when I hit the home button, nothing happened.

Whatever happened between the Genius taking my old glass screen and replacing it with the new one was enough to make my iPhone malfunction. The home button wasn’t taking me home.

I placed a quick call back to the Apple Store. A representative, Mike, answered. When I started to explain my problem, he kept saying, “Hello? Is anyone there?” Then he hung up. Weird.

A second call yielded the same results. A rep named Cat answered, asked “Hello?” a few times, and hung up.

My mic, it seems, was busted too. In fact, everything from the the home button down was malfunctioning. I called the Apple Store on the home phone and set up an appointment for the next day – Saturday at 1 p.m.

I came back into the store, and the Genius that helped me the night before recognized me.

“Weren’t you just in here last night?” she asked.

“I was, now I’m back,” I said. “However you guys replaced the screen, it busted the home button and the microphone.”

The Genius tried connecting my iPhone with the USB cable, but it wouldn’t sync with iTunes. Even the USB port, it seems, was broken. The technician took my phone to the back, disappearing for a few minutes, and came back with good news:

“We’re going to give you a new phone.”

Hoo-ha. He switched my SIM card out of my old phone, popped it into the new phone, and kapow – I had a brand new iPhone 3G.

I took it back home and, after a few connection issues involving resetting the phone several times and a lot of cussing, synced all my apps and data back to my phone.

The whole process, from me shattering my iPhone’s screen to getting a new phone from Apple, was a lesson. Now I grip my phone a little tighter and treat it like a new parent treats their bundle of joy.

But I have to give credit to Apple. Sure, I paid $200 for a new glass screen, but they made the whole process as easy as possible – right down to recognizing that their technicians did something to break my first iPhone. They remedied that with a brand new phone, and it was the right thing to do.

It seems like forever ago now, but all the fun we had on iPhone 3G launch day comes back to me when I watch that video.

The “don’t-you-feel-bad” guys are T-Mobile reps, who had the bad luck of being stationed next to an Apple store at the Briarwood Mall. They had one customer the whole time I was there. T-Mobile shoppers were either too intimidated or too horrified at the gross consumerism to step foot at their home base.

Good times. Relive the madness of that weird day in July, a whole month ago, when I reported from the front lines.

Made it home safe and sound, and finding out news about the server crashes have spread like wildfire. I helped break the news over at Macenstein, but I think everyone eventually got the message.

The iPhone 3G launch was a worldwide event. Something had to go wrong. It’s too bad that “something” was of this magnitude.

More… »

Booya.

At 12:25 this afternoon, I successfully purchased a white, 16 GB iPhone 3G from the Ann Arbor Apple store at the Briarwood Mall.

It’s official. The whole process took about 15 minutes. My “Specialist” said the networks were still being goofy, but I could take my iPhone home and activate it there “in a few hours.”

“AT&T has been fun to deal with today,” he said with a sly smile.

While I’m disappointed I can’t hop on the phone and start playing around, it’s almost better this way. At home, I can take my time and really absorb the thing.

Looking outside the store, the line is still incredibly long – and growing. Before, the line didn’t extend far beyond where I stood. But now the whole mall is full of people in line. It’s madness. Workers on their lunch break, hoping to whip into the store and make their purchase, may lose their job if they’re not careful.

The Apple rep outside the store gave me a “no comment” when I asked how supplies were holding up. My own specialist told me they had just a few of the white models left, so perhaps I lucked out. Whatever. After looking at their store model, I’m sure I made the right choice.

So now it’s past my lunch time, and after all the coffee and water I’ve had there are important matters to deal with. Then I hit the road back home, get everything set up, and life begins again. But this whole thing has been incredible. The people in line were amazing company, the Apple staff were courteous and helpful (if vague with their information), and the in-store setup couldn’t have been easier.

Over and out, for good, from Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor.

Almost noon now. Finally made it inside the store, but was getting nervous there for a while. More nervous for Apple employees than anything else (see above).

People keep coming into the front of the store expecting to just “shop.” One can’t feel sorry for these folks; who DOESN’T know iPhone 3G day is today? One lady came up to replace a printer, though, and they let her in and out – with a new box. They probably just wanted to get her out as soon as possible.

The line wait has been a boon in one way: people can read the labyrinthine AT&T disclosures on the brochure they’re handing out. Ann Arbor is a liberal town, and it’s hard to make sense of anything AT&T explains. How can one company, besides Microsoft, be so evil?

One two people in front of me. The lady behind me’s cut-off time was 2:30 p.m. “You’re halfway there,” I told her. California is just now coming on line. Will things get worse?

An Apple rep came out and said the servers are up, but it’s been “up and down” – he said this while giving the roller coaster motion with his hand.

Seems with MobileMe problems and now this, Apple has its hands full.

The line is moving, but super slowly. We haven’t moved in probably 10-15 minutes, but people are walking out of the store with phones again.

The nice lady next to me is off to grab a cookie. Meanwhile, my iBook’s battery is just about out, so more updates when I get into the store and can access an iMac.

QUICKER UPDATE: It’s 10:30. An Apple rep came out of the store and said they were having “technical difficulties,” and that their “corporate server” is down. I just hope this isn’t nation-wide.

Quick update: the Briarwood store’s servers have crashed, which is why the line hasn’t moved.

Jesus! Can they handle that kind of pressure. How long, O Lord, until the natives start smashing things? How much kicking can an iMac take?

A girl came out of the store with the news, and I can only hope for the best. She barely made it out alive.

Who will survive, and what will be left of them. Shit, two hours in a line for nothing can have adverse affects unless they start handing out rum rations, or more coffee.

More news as it develops.

This last hour or so has been pretty slow. We were moving at a steady pace at first, but not so much now.

Got a call from my buddy Keith, who almost made it with me today. He stopped at the Toledo, OH AT&T store but said “at least 200 people were in line.” Instead, he headed to Bowling Green and got the last phone at their AT&T store.

“But it works,” he said. “I’m talking to you on my new iPhone.”

Right-o. Here in Michigan, we still have a wait. Luckily the lady next to me let me move out of line to take some video, which I’ll be posting later. I took some shots of the poor schmucks at the T-Mobile stand right next to the Apple Store entrance. Why even show up today?

Serious doubts about supply are starting to make us nervous. Keith said they only had 8 GB models at Bowling Green. Will there be a white iPhone for me?

This is why I’m an Apple person: the nice lady who has been running up and down the line, answering questions, just brought me a hot coffee with cream. Apple has always been great in terms of user experience, but not they can add “people waiting in line” experience, too.

It’s 9:20 a.m., and a few people have trickled out of the Briarwood Mall Apple Store with the sleek, white iPhone 3G bags in-hand. One guy stopped to see a buddy in line, and compared his new iPhone with his friend’s “old” iPhone.

I talked with a lady from Ann Arbor who has been a Mac person since the days of the beige G3. “I don’t know why everyone’s not a Mac person,” she said, and it’s hard to argue with that. She had made fewer decisions than I had: no phone choice, no AT&T plan choice, not even the color concerned her. “I have a whole half-hour or so to think about it,” she said. You can’t help admire that kind of live-for-the-moment philosophy.

The store is letting in groups of about six or seven at a time, and where I’m standing, near the end of the line, we probably have another hour to go. There are at least several hundred people here. The line doesn’t seem to be growing much, either: whoever wanted an iPhone 3G this bad is already here and waiting. The Detroit Free press claims Apple can handle 100 customers an hour, which seems about right.

Our group is surely a curiosity to the walkers in the mall. “Kids these days,” they must be thinking, but truthfully all ages are represented here. Apple is an egalitarian company.

We’re almost to the amusement-park-style stanchions, which shows we’re “almost there,” whatever that means.

Arrived just before 8 a.m. this morning. Walked into the mall (it opens at 5 a.m. for walkers, I found out) to the sound of clapping and cheering. The festivities had begun.

The Apple employees were outside the store, pumping up the crowd, and handing out coffee and water to anxious waiters. I followed the line past Rogers & Hollands and down to JC Penny, where the familiar sculpture stood, and took my place at the end of the line next to a guy in a Joker/”Dark Knight” shirt.

“I hope they don’t run out,” he said. “I drove past the AT&T store and they had, like, five people in line.”

One lady walking the mall, her iPod mini in hand, asked us why we were all waiting in line.

“You know they’re going to have some tomorrow, right?” she said. One guy told her to go away; she was ruining our fun.

Later a security guard on a Segway rolled past, and an Apple staffer came out and asked if anyone had any questions. They have coffee and water stations set up at strategic points along the waiting line – a nice touch, I thought.

Applause echoed through Briarwood as the first customer in line got in the store. A second round of clapping followed after the transaction took place. All together, it took about 10 or 15 minutes, which is what we expected.

“I’m leaving for vacation next week,” the lady behind me said. “I have to get one before I take off. I hope they don’t run out.”

This fit the general feel of the crowd. One guy didn’t expect this kind of line, but I told him it could be worse: last year, when this Briarwood store opened, the line snaked across the entire mall. All that for just a t-shirt.

Incredibly, Briarwood charges for a wifi connection. There were several WEP connections in the area, and the one free wifi connection wasn’t loading. And I’m not about to pay for wifi – not at some mall. Finally some linksys connection opened up. Hence this post.

One thing I forgot to do was transfer money into my account to actually make this purchase. What a fool I was. Luckily I’m on the grid now, so a quick trip to online banking and I’ll be good to go.

What kind of iPhone will I be getting. Despite all the controversy, I like the white one. I matches my iBook and my iPod 30 GB video, and there’s something about the white look that says “Apple.”

This is report number one from the front lines. Hopefully I’ll post again as I get closer (maybe even in the Apple store, on some super-powered Mac Pro).

Over and out from Ann Arbor.