Since partnering with AT&T, Apple lost one of its core assets: owning the complete vertical. Let me explain. Apple owns the complete vertical with all of its products except the iPhone. If you buy a MacBook laptop, Apple is the sole developer. It designed the hardware, created the operating system, in essence every part of the user experience was developed by Apple. This means there is only one party responsible if something goes wrong.

This is unlike the PC user experience where one manufacturer provides the hardware and Microsoft provides the software. PC users are used to the Blame Game, since hardware manufacturers and constantly faulting Microsoft for buggy software, and Microsoft points their finger at the hardware guys for bad drivers, dodgy implementation and so on.

Looking back, this vertical ownership is one of the big reasons, besides dynamite industrial design and an intuitive interface, that Apple has dominated the digital music player market since the iPod first bowed. Unfortunely, with the debut of the iPhone, this ownership is now shared with AT&T.

To combat this obvious disadvantage, you'd think Apple would have compensated with an extensive training program for their employees, and a tighter integration with AT&T's customer service representatives. Although Apple's employees do have a "hotline" to AT&T, this does not counter the lack of training. With the overwhelming popularity of the Jesus phone, its troubling that Apple does not go the extra mile to educate their employees on the intracatcies of account setup, number portability and activation. If they required their employees to go through the same program as their "Geniuses," than many of the problems that I incurred would have most likely been dealt with in a swift and timely fashion. However, their devotion to secrecy has resulted in some of the worst customer service imaginable.

With my iPhone safely in the bosom of Apple's Claim Ticket program, which is how they are disseminating iPhones to VIPs by the way — so they don't have to wait in line — it was now time to start Dialing For Dollars Activation. My first order of business was to call AT&T to make sure that everything was on schedule with my number port. The AT&T rep I spoke with assured me that Verizon received the second request with the correct billing address, but was still waiting for Verizon to "acknowledge" the petition. The representative then informed me that the acknowledgement could take up to 72 hours. Pointing the finger at Verizon.

I then called Verizon's Customer service to inquire about the "lack of acknowledgement" and they informed me that they did receive the request and it was being processed, which could take 7 to 10 business days. I probed about the "lack of acknowledgement" on AT&T's part and they said they were responsible for sending an accurate request and the ball was in their court. Pointing the finger at AT&T.

I'm not going to bore you with the volleys between the two wireless carriers, but in the end this is what I was able to accomplish: AT&T claimed that they set up an account for the number that was waiting to be ported and that I could go back to the Apple store, give them the account, and they would be able to activate my phone with a temporary number. Even though every time I called AT&T's Port Number hotline, 888.898.7685, an automated message informed me that there was a problem porting my number.

So off to the Apple store I went...again. The store made some modifications on how they were allowing 3G buyers to access the store, allieviating some of the crowding and cutting that plagued the retail outlet during my first visit. The line was no longer permitted to queue up inside the store and the activation area was less cluttered with about half the staff. I asked for a Store Manager, and presented my Claim Ticket. I stopped her as she was turning to head into the stock room, and emphatically asked for their "most experienced" activation employee. In a few moments the woman reappeared with an female employee, "Sam," an overly tattooed woman who casting directors would describe as "a nerdy East Village graphic designer with a dark side despite her pleasant demeanor." Again, I outlined my problems and Sam listened attentively.

"Have you had any problems with activating the new 3G," I questioned.
"No, everyone I've activated went pretty smoothly," she remarked confidently. Her streak was about to come to a sudden end...

I presented Sam with all the informtion I accumulated to date, my new AT&T account number, the Ported number, the Port Order number, the exact address that both AT&T and Verzion had in their records, and literally everything else I could think of to make the transaction frictionless. I figured if I could walk out of Apple with an Activated iPhone that contained a temporary number, it would be a win.

Sam took my information and began "the activation dance." I suggested that she get an AT&T representative on the phone, just in case she experienced some speed bumps. My main objective was to prevent her from "scratching" the phone, since the 16GB Black models were now sold out at that location. (for more information on "scratched" iPhones see Part One —Ed.) Sam brushed me off, and started the process.

Almost immediately, she ran into issues. I insisted she call AT&T. Luckily for me, she listened and got a AT&T rep who almost knew what he was talking about. He informed Sam that she would not be able to issue temporary number to the existing Ported Number request account with Apple's in-store, hand-held device. She relayed what he said to me, and I suggested creating a brand new account and then having AT&T merge the accounts once the port processed. Sam presented the idea to the AT&T rep and he said that would work, but that I would be required to go to an AT&T store and swap the SIM cards. Sam pursed her lips, looked at me with a long face and said "you can't remove the SIM card from the new 3G iPhone."

You can't remove the SIM card?? That didn't make any sense to me, since Apple includes a tool for removing the SIM card in the iPhone 3G box. And this was coming from their "most experienced" activation employee on staff. Sad. Just plain sad.

At that point, I told Sam to hang up with AT&T and to just activate the iPhone as a brand new account, something I knew she could probably handle and wouldn't "scratch" the iPhone. I made sure that the information I gave her, name, address, contact phone number, social security number, etc. was exactly the same as the other account that AT&T had created for the number port. An hour after Sam started the process, I walked out of Apple with a working iPhone.

Unfortunately, I still had to get my ported number onto this iPhone, and so, my dear readers and evil editor, the adventures continues...