2007
- Transfer my existing account from the business to a new individual account.
- Move my existing individual account to the same “market” as my business number was. (This seems totally odd to me.)
- Cancel the activation I did on my iPhone before.
- Get a new SIM card for iPhone. (Once you activate a SIM card it’s toast, trip to the store!)
- Reactivate iPhone.
- #53 in line for iPhone! 01:59 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- They have closed the Apple Store and covered the windows in black fabric. 02:13 PM June 29, 2007 from web
- Watching Christopher getting lots of attention for being first in line. 02:18 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Christopher getting his taken picture with some random person at the mall. 02:20 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Just finished pizza in line. 02:52 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Random person turns out to be former CEO of Cray Research. 02:53 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Taking a survey for Piper Jaffray on a cell phone being passed down the line waiting for the iPhone. 02:56 PM June 29, 2007 from web
- Just passed the phone on to the next person in the line. 02:57 PM June 29, 2007 from web
- Kent’s taking survey now. Awesome. 02:59 PM June 29, 2007 from web
- “Which iPhone you getting?” “8 gig. Go big, or go home.” – Kent 03:00 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Christopher just polled the crowd regarding which model people plan to buy. 03:08 PM June 29, 2007 from web
- Drinking a Heath Bar Chiller from Caribou. Oh how I’ve fallen. 03:41 PM June 29, 2007 from twitterrific
- Got a chair! Thank you to my wonderful wife! 04:55 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- 40 minutes left! 05:18 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Apple store window unveiled with iPhone displaying countdown to launch on it. 05:30 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Crowd is now queued up to the gated storefront. 05:50 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Line is compressed and standing. The smell of anticipation lingers. 05:51 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Store is open! 05:59 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Line is moving! 06:00 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Line is stopped. 06:05 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Inside the store. 06:15 PM June 29, 2007 from im
- Success! Two iPhones in hand! 06:26 PM June 29, 2007 from im
Final preparation underway to leave for Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Sitting by the pool at a friends house watching people jumping off the diving board.
Happy Independence Day everyone!
Tweeting about my iPhone “just cuz”.
Tammy is watching a show on TLC about 1,000 pound dude that hasn’t stood up for 7 years. OMG!
Tiger Woods for Wii rocks!
iPhone Activation
One of the ways in which the iPhone claims to be revolutionary is how you activate it. Rather than sitting in the store and having someone press a few dozen numbers on your phone, you simply take it home and plug it into your computer and follow a few easy screens in iTunes. Sounds great!
And great it is! On Tammy’s phone, it was flawless. I changed her phone on her existing account and it flowed with ease through iTunes. Everything was great. No issues. Bliss.
Then it was my turn. I knew this would be more complicated since I decided that I was going to move my phone to my individual account and no longer submit it through my business. During the weekend I called AT&T and the service representative said I had to call back on Monday, but I could just activate now on my individual plan and they could fix it up on Monday. It turns out that was incorrect. After about 90 minutes of time on the phone with AT&T this is what had to be done.
I came within millimeters of just giving up and changing numbers. I’m going to be astounded if there are no billing issues the first couple of months.
Note: there was some concern on various sites about replacing your SIM card. I can say with confidence that replacing your SIM card is very painless on the iPhone. Just pop a new one in from AT&T and re-activate in iTunes. All of your existing sync settings will be retained.
The story has a happy ending. After getting a new SIM card, and having the AT&T people get my account all prepared for it, activation was flawless on my phone as well.
There are many people complaining about activation problems. Perhaps Apple didn’t spend enough time on this process. Or, in my opinion, they are just trying to do something that isn’t possible. The complexity required to move my phone would be incredibly hard to code around, and expensive. Solving the problem seamlessly for 80% is great, but the other 20% are probably thinking it’s easier than it really is.
I got my iPhone
I stood in line for a few hours on Friday at the Southdale Apple Store to insure a shiny new 8G iPhone would be in my possession for the weekend. My reactions to it coming soon!
iPhone Day via Twitter
I didn’t get an “I was there on June 29, 2007” t-shirt or anything, but the iPhone wait via Twitter is entertaining.
One of the tweets highlighted in my MarketWatch Farewell Video.
Push Conference 2007
Listening to director of National Institute of Play.
Listening to Clyde Prestowitz, author of Rogue Nation and leader of Economic Strategy Institute.