Filed under: iPhone

Imagine if Apple's handset prices in the US weren't announced at WWDC, and the subsidy pricing was up to AT&T. Imagine if AT&T told potential iPhone customers that the iPhone 4 would launch on July 30, and pricing info would be released well in advance of that.

Now imagine the weeks leading up to July 30 went by, and AT&T didn't say a word about the iPhone 4's pricing, even though many other countries had already released handset and plan info. It's July 29, and instead of working with its customers, throwing them a bone, giving them some sort of information, AT&T instead remained utterly reticent and deleted any posts on its forums remotely critical of its handling of the situation. Imagine AT&T followed up by deleting all mention of the iPhone 4 from its website: no pricing info, no pre-orders, not even a "coming soon" link.

Imagine that July 30 comes along, with the usual line-ups happening nationwide. You'll also have to imagine there's no Apple Stores, and AT&T is the only place in the country where you can buy a subsidized iPhone. At eight in the morning on the day the iPhone 4 is supposed to launch, there's no trace of it at any AT&T store, or Best Buy, or Wal-Mart, or anywhere else you might reasonably expect to find an iPhone 4 on the day it's launched. And even in the midst of all this, and with media reports flying about that Apple's partnership with AT&T has been cancelled, AT&T still doesn't have a single scrap of information to spare for its loyal customers. Not a word of explanation. Not a single excuse. Nothing. And no iPhone 4 anywhere in the nation.

Now replace "AT&T" with "Vodafone," and you have a picture of the iPhone "launch" in New Zealand. I put "launch" in heavy sarcasm quotes, because the iPhone 4 is not launching in New Zealand today... and thanks to Vodafone, no one has any idea when or even if it will be coming to New Zealand at a subsidised price. Read on for a textbook example of how to generate a PR disaster, and also an example of how not to treat potential customers.

TUAWiPhone 4 launch may be cancelled in New Zealand, confusion reigns down under originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - AT&T - Apple - New Zealand - Unofficial Apple Weblog