Todd Wasserman, reporting for BrandWeek:

By opting for these tin-eared retorts, AT&T does nothing but set itself up as a foe to consumers. At a conference in New York in early December, CEO Ralph de la Vega responded to charges that AT&T’s iPhone service was slow by turning condescending. “The first thing we need to do is educate consumers about what represents a megabyte of data,” de la Vega told reporters—this while floating the idea of charging heavy users more than others.

AT&T’s position seems to be that consumers are consuming way more data than the company had expected and everyone just needs to chill until the company can recover from this inconsiderate overuse. When the conceit is that ass-backwards, no amount of spin is effective.

If there's one company whose reputation has been steadily slaughtered over the past two years, it's AT&T.  The malign is deserved: I have followed the blogs, Twitter conversations and press releases as much as the next gadget/tech geek, and to me it's plainly clear that AT&T hasn't learned any lessons from brands who have had their business practices change due to consumers leveraging social channels.

But it's even worse than that.  They view iPhone users as the problem that led to their damaged brand, not their shoddy network to begin with or nearly flat capital expenditures since the iPhone's inception.

As a realtively new AT&T customer (who joined simply because of the iPhone), the vibe I get is that they believe it's easier to milk this iPhone thing -- however long it goes in exclusivity -- for all it's worth than it is to listen to your customers, address negative feedback, and build out your network to accomodate your users happily using your product.  AT&T had a chance to become something special, pehaps even to vy for extentend exclusivity, but instead chose to treat the iPhone deal as a racehorse: flog it as hard as you can until it dies, keep the share price at a decent level, get your bonuses, and move on to what's next.  That sort of myopia will be part of AT&T's enduring legacy, especially when they could have built a race team and made their customers their fans.

When the iPhone opens up to other carriers in the US, AT&T will see a hemhorraging of subscribers like never before.  Given how I drop at least a call day with AT&T, I will likely be among them.

Enjoy your early termination fees, Mr. Stephenson: they're the last vestige of what could have been.

 

Seems that various bitter morons at AT&T stores really don't dig selling iPhones, because, like, they don't get big commissions on them. And they're pissed that they have to compete with Apple selling iPhones too. They're indifferent or downright antagonistic to customers. This has got to rub Apple the wrong way: Retail clerks having some say, no matter how little, in how the iPhone moves. That's gotta piss El Jobso off. And it does. Fake Steve:

They're pissed because they don't get as big a commission as they do on other phones. And because they have to compete with Apple stores selling iPhones too. Total a-holes. This is one huge reason why we stayed out of the phone business for as long as we did. I can't stand the kind of morons who work in the typical cell phone store. It's like they give people an IQ test and an EQ test and those who fail move on to the next round; then they sift out anyone who's polite or helpful or doesn't have a criminal record or a serious drug problem; whoever's left gets the job. Honestly, this is why Google wants the FCC to free up the wireless spectrum and let customers put any phone on any network. Well, okay, that's not really why Google wants that. But anyway. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Cell phone carriers suck. They're orifices. They're yet another example of an industry that thrives only by exploiting customers and treating them like shit. Lock-in, two-year contracts, screwing you on every little feature. Damn. Someday, I hope not too long from now, we are going to look back on this era of wireless telecom in horror, not believing we ever had to put up with such bullshit.

The latter part I agree with. The American mobile phone business is too busy trying to create customer lock-in, stupid-ass features, and confusing, ever-changing rate plans to really open up and catch up with Europe or Japan. They're too busy sniping at their competition and tripping over their own customer service pants to do anything that even resembles progressive. They assume customers (that means you) are too stupid to notice or do anything about it. And for the most part, they're right. When's the last time there was a consumer uprising demanding a liberated technology? A level playing field? Openness to beget innovation? Maybe FSJ is right -- one day, after the FCC decides to swing its bat, things will change. Until then -- and this I promise -- nothing will.

An iPhone kiosk in an AT&T store needed to reboot to begin the iPhone demo again, and as the kiosk was rebooting, well, let's just say that Apple probably isn't too pleased with this.

Whoops. Link 

Frivolous litigiousness never ceases to amaze me.  Ever. Techcrunch:

A Cook County, Illinois resident has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T over the iPhone. Jose Trujillo is claiming that Apple and AT&T misled iPhone buyers by not clearly informing them that the iPhone battery was sealed, and could only be professionally replaced.

Yeah.  Too bad the iPhone battery issue (which does suck, by the way) was publicized all over the place before its launch.  Oh, and the fact that Apple even talks about it needing to be replaced on its website. Failure ahoy. This is not the way I'd want to spend my 15 minutes.