Scripting News: iPhones that didn't activate

Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

iPhones that didn't activate

I was getting ready to do a podcast on why the iPhone is important and totally worth obsessing over, but maybe before we go there, we should take a look at this number.

According to an unscientific Engadget poll, 38 percent of iPhone users have not gotten their phones activated. An unactivated iPhone is useless, you can't enter numbers into the contact list while you're waiting, you can't surf the web over wifi, or watch YouTube videos or find out what the temperature is in Cupertino.

Steve Rubel is one of the 38 percent. And since he cancelled his Verizon account, he no longer has a cell phone. Not a good situation for a guy like Steve. He's in PR. (Steve writes: "I actually have a backup phone from Edelman but it's my personal phone that wa cancelled.")

Thomas Hawk's iPhone isn't working yet either. He describes waiting on hold endlessly with AT&T. Like Steve, his first memory of iPhone is going to be a wasted weekend trying to get started.

For what it's worth my activation went smoothly, took just a few minutes.

Rex Hammock: "Perhaps setting up a cell-phone account is a process, not a purchase."

Last update: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 4:01:03 PM

~About the Author~

Dave Winer, 55, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

Mail: scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

Jun Aug