While consumer and media response to Apple’s forthcoming range of watches and smartphones has been decidedly mixed, one thing is fairly unanimous: the company’s rollout process seems to have been botched at every turn.
Last night, when pre-order for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus became available at 3 a.m. ET, online shoppers in the U.S. were vexed to arrive at a malfunctioning Apple store, which was down for a total of 2-1/2 hours.
While some consumers were able to successfully order their phones via the Apple Store app for iOS, others tried their luck on carrier websites like AT&T and Verizon, reports CNET. Sprint and T-Mobile, meanwhile, were as glitchy as the Apple site itself.
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Even users who managed to place an order were met with unexpected delays: the iPhone 6 will deliver within seven to 10 business days, some shoppers reported, while the 6 Plus won’t arrive for another three to four weeks.
Though the iPhone 5 also sold out upon its launch in 2012 at a record pace -- causing Apple to prolong shipment times from one week to three -- this reportedly marks the first time that Apple’s online store has completely crashed.
Frustrated users took to Twitter to vent about the situation:
Odd. If you hit refresh enough times when the Apple Store website is down you get this easter egg. pic.twitter.com/f9r5TggnoF
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The hilarious responses took a similar tone to the social avalanche on Tuesday when Apple’s livestream -- during which the new products were to be officially unveiled -- similarly crashed. As Apple doesn’t typically livestream its keynotes, those who tuned in were staggered to discover strange error screens, a Mandarin translation dubbed over the audio stream and a maddening string of stops and starts.
Which all begs the question: could Apple have done better? While the onslaught of orders would seem to indicate that the company succeeded from a product perspective, the glitches may be a blight upon Angela Ahrendts, according to CNET -- the former Burberry CEO who joined Apple in May to revamp its underperforming retail and online stores division.
And as for the live stream failures?
If you're having a bad day, remember that there's some guy that needs to tell Tim Cook that half the live stream had Chinese dubbing.
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