iPhone 3GS Launch and Twitter
// June 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // e-commerce, social media, web thoughts
After following a couple of liveblogs reporting on the Apple WWDC last night and the launch of the new iPhone 3G S I turned to the retailers websites to find out how to get hold of one. Neither the O2 or Carphone Warehouse website had been updated to reflect the announcement. For neither site to even have a holding page or even basic information for about 3 hours after the announcement surely was a missed opportunity. It may well be the lock down that Apple puts on the information it announces at these conferences, but the time delay still was pretty bad.
So in my time of I need I turned to the ever-reliable Google for the latest information and it was after a number of searches that the weakness of Google for breaking news was exposed. Saving the day came Twitter! Yes there was alot of noise on there from people, like me, despairing over the lack of information available, but eventually the O2 and Carphone Warehouse twitter streams started to post information. O2 broke first with estimated pricing, but then around 9pm left a message saying they were finished for the day. Carphone Warehouse then picked up and exceeded O2′s early strong position with Twitter user ‘@guyatcarphone‘ posting useful links and responding to peoples enquiries.
Around 11pm the retailers websites kicked into life with the bare essential information, tariffs appeared on O2′s site, then Carphone Warehouse again outdid them with a simple, but effective iPhone 3G S pre-registration system.
All in all, an interesting launch to follow online and Carphone Warehouse clearly went the extra mile in providing the personal touch for the UK early adopters amongst us.