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AT&T’s next epic fail
Well, the clock is ticking. Just a couple of hours ago, AT&T finally enabled multimedia messaging on the iPhone—a capability Apple added to the iPhone with a software update more than three months ago, but which AT&T, in a now-notorious blunder of epic proportions, failed to be ready to support. Now that AT&T is (supposedly) ready, confidence in a smooth roll-out is less than high. Especially since the rumor is going around that a test AT&T ran a few days ago resulted in a network outage and a last-minute rush to beef up capacity.
Of course, the idea of a “last-minute rush” is either laughable or infuriating, depending upon the quality of your anti-anxiety meds. A “last-minute rush” would have gotten AT&T’s network ready in time for the mid-June introduction of the new MMS feature when Apple unveiled it. The setting was one of Apple’s famous industry keynote events, and when it was announced that AT&T would not be implementing the feature until “later in the summer,” there were audible catcalls. Even the Apple execs at the event made little effort to hide their disdain.
This failure was not one AT&T could afford. At the time, research already showed that the number-one complaint of iPhone users was the AT&T network to which they are shackled. And the number-one barrier-to-sale for interested iPhone buyers was, again, AT&T. Remember, this is a company whose iPhone exclusivity was known from the start to be of limited duration. Reports differ as to when precisely other carriers will be allowed to offer the iPhone, but the day is coming. Until then, AT&T should be doing everything possible to wow its customers with amazing quality and service. Instead, they disappoint. Again and again.
So will today bring another nail in AT&T’s coffin, as its kite-string-and-bubblegum network is buffetted by wave after wave of picture and video messages that iPhone owners have been waiting all summer to send? Your guess is as good as ours. But we wouldn’t want to be in AT&T’s shoes right now. (Photograph licensed by Jeff Kubina under Creative Commons.)