AppleInsider reports that Radio Shack, which is getting ready to become the next retail outlet for the iPhone in the US, will offer a trade-in program to users of smartphones who wish to upgrade or switch. According to the report, the electronics chain will be the number two retailer in terms of the number of outlets, after giant Walmart. Read more…
Apple’s retail “experts” — a new position that will serve as a roaming counterpart to existing “geniuses” at brick-and-mortar locations — are expected to debut in stores in a matter of weeks, people familiar with the matter have told AppleInsider.
Interviewing for the expert position is said to start this week at the company’s retail outlets, and Apple plans to debut the new personnel in about two weeks. Originally, the “expert” title was only available to current Apple Store employees who sought a promotion within the company.
Apple has referred to the experts as “Family Room expertise out in the Red Zone.” The “Family Room” at an Apple Store is known to customers as the Genius Bar. The “Red Zone” equates to the sales floor.
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Facing intense criticism of its mobile network coverage from a variety of sources, AT&T has both failed to deploy its iPhone tethering strategy and to successfully get its 3G MicroCell product into widespread distribution.
New tethering services would exacerbate AT&T’s existing network capacity problems, but availability of the 3G MicroCell would help to solve localized service holes for the company. The product is still confined to limited testing in just a few cities, which perplexingly do not include the two markets that are so infamous in terms of poor service that AT&T’s CEO has made apologetic remarks addressing them directly: New York City and San Francisco. Read more…
AT&T has resumed taking iPhone orders from New York City residents through its website after blocking the sale of the handsets to New Yorkers this past weekend for reasons the carrier has been unwilling to explain in detail.
The sales suspension drew hundreds of headlines from technology websites on Monday, fueling suspicions that the move was yet another sign that the exclusive US iPhone carrier was unable to support the brunt of the handset’s popularity in dense metropolitan areas.
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What kind of Christmas present is this? The Consumerist is reporting that AT&T has stopped selling the iPhone in the New York metropolitan area, at least via the company’s website, due to high data congestion (or possibly due to online fraud). Update: While Consumerist’s post still cites ‘network congestion’ as the reason for the NYC sales hold, we’ve been told by other customer service reps that the real reason is a spike in fraudulent purchases; other sites have gotten the same story.
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Apple plans to release a new “Concierge” application for the iPhone and iPod touch that will allow customers to schedule appointments at retail stores, AppleInsider has been told.
According to a source that has proven reliable in the past, the App Store software will allow anyone to view memberships and make appointments for services at retail stores, like the Genius Bar or One to One. No release date or the alleged application was provided.
The information on the potential new iPhone application was corroborated Monday in a separate report from MacRumors.
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RadioShack has announced that they will carry the iPhone in stores beginning later this month.
“As part of its ongoing mobility strategy, RadioShack is pleased to announce that it will introduce Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a limited number of company-owned stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City metropolitan areas beginning later this month. RadioShack expects to introduce iPhone in stores nationwide in 2010. Read more…
A man who took his iPhone 3G in to a New York City Apple Store because of a large number of dropped calls was allegedly told that a 30 percent failure rate is average for a local AT&T customer.
In a diagnosis issued by the Genius Bar, the proposed resolution for the issue was for the customer to contact AT&T, because “the problem is consistent with the service provided” by the wireless carrier. Not included in the report, however, is what a Gizmodo reader claimed he was told by the Apple Store Genius: That a 30 percent dropped call rate is average for the New York area.
The man took his iPhone 3G to the Apple Store in SoHo, located at 103 Prince Street in New York City, to see if his dropped calls were as a result of the hardware. The man said that roughly a third of his calls disconnected. Read more…