That this guy was spoiling your (and likely other folks') moment is unfortunate. However, this is not screwing up an iPhone launch, this is spoiling your experience. Your experience is not the iPhone 5 launch.
I am sympathetic that this engagement didn't go the way you wanted it to. Complaining on the internet is not the way to address this issue, and if you thought this was actually a big deal (especially for how they were going to treat others), I hope you expressed your feelings to the guy at the store, not just the anonymous internet, because it comes off as a bit entitled.
After all. You got your iPhone didn't you? You now get to spend the rest of its life with your iPhone, one would presume that is actually the important part of your relationship with your phone.
Edit: Nice stealth edit on the title (going from "AT&T Screwed Up the iPhone 5 Launch" to "AT&T Screwed Up the iPhone 5 Launch for me"). *grin
I should say that I really don't want to delegitimize your disappointment (c.f. http://weeklysift.com/2012/09/10/the-distress-of-the-privile... ) because I know exactly how you feel. But I also don't think your post is constructive, or lends any interesting insight or analysis to the topic of a user's relationship with their devices, or Apple and AT&T.
Though HN may be even better represented when the iPhone reax subside and real content dominates the front page again :)
These emotional highs create some very strong connections. I think it's one of the reasons Apple has such high brand loyalty. And AT&T is messing this up for new customers. They didn't get to experience opening their new product, sure they might think it's great like I do, and spend the rest of their life happy with it.. But I think there's a key component to the Apple experience missing.
That's what I mean by cultural norms. You are essentially demanding that this man accede your preferred experience. This guy may just be totally clueless that this is how you experience devices (because I can tell you a lot of other folks do not experience unboxing the way you do).
And it's okay that you wish to have that experience, and that Apple wishes to facilitate that sort of experience, but to blame this guy for not having known what your expectations are ahead of time, that is what comes off to me as entitled.
Apple pretends that they are mind readers (what they really are is a company that is really good at cultivating expectations that they then meet), and AT&T and your rep are clearly not mind readers and are also bad at cultivating expectations.
When I order large things (Televisions, Furniture) it's a luxury to have people come into my home, open the product, and take the packaging away. That's common sense, too.
That's an understatement. I'm tempted to think that the original article was a troll, satire, or both.
It's a phone, grow up.
OP should have spoken up, but calling him names is a little silly. When you buy a product you expect to have control over how it's handled and used.
I think that Apple has personally touched me because it's values resonate so well with my own. To create things that are simple and wonderful to use, thought through to every minor detail. The careful precision that you don't really get with any other smartphone maker at the moment.
When the iPhone is treated a coffeetable book in front of the owner entering a 2 year contract and paying $200-$400 dollars, don't you see the harm in that?
And people wonder why so many of us hate Apple fans, this is off the charts lame.
Sometimes we take it all too seriously and forget, as another poster said, that our norms are not everyone else's norms. Thus, "all those passive people" might well have had their experience ruined not by being deprived of some unboxing experience, but by having to wait while every person ahead of them opens their box to make sure the phone's there, working/can be activated, etc.
It's too bad that the poster's experience wasn't what they wanted it to be, but really, seriously, don't make it a bigger issue than it really is and don't assume everyone else has the same issue, even given the same treatment.
2. The rep retrieves the phone and hands it to you to check.
3. The rep then encourages you to open your iPhone and shares in your excitement.
4. Once the phone is open, the rep then respectfully asks to take the phone and goes about his business. He leaves the protective covers on the phone, and lets you take them off at your own will.
So, here you are on iPhone 5 launch day, you've been waiting for hours, and the store is absolutely packed with people. How does this process work out? Do you lose your place in line while you open your phone and play around with it for a few minutes (even though it doesn't do anything yet)? Is the rep supposed to stand there and wait, 'sharing in your excitement' while the lines grow even longer? The reps are at work and they are trying to get these rabid fans their iPhones as soon as possible. This guy was working quickly because the line was out the door and he's trying to do his damn job. I'm guessing that when you work at a phone company, even the thrill of a new iPhone loses its charm pretty fast.
If you want the pristine "Apple" experience, then the Apple store is absolutely where you went.
I really, really feel for the author - wish that his day one iPhone 5 experience had been all he had been looking for - I know precisely what that moment of expectation is like, where you actually sit and marvel at the fit-and-finish of the cardboard box, and how the packaging all fits together as you slowly unbox it - but, AT&T was not the place to do that.
That's why people buy an iPhone in the first place though. It is the experience, that starts before you even turn on your iPhone.
On the real.
The employees are trying to rush through the mass. They have the setup the phone, activate and etc for the account that they don't have the luxury of time for you to enjoy the unboxing experience. It is unfortunate for those who enjoy it - sure. But it is what it is and business is business. There are a hundreds of customers waiting and want to play with their phone and so they have to blitz through to fulfill every customer.
