June 17, 2010
Jordan Robertson & Peter Svensson
SAN FRANCISCO:
Apple and AT&T are facing two major problems taking orders for the newest iPhone model just a week before it hits stores: Buyers reported problems registering their orders and an apparent glitch in AT&T's website was steering some customers into strangers' accounts.
Troubles in meeting demand for the iPhone aren't new. But the latest apparent breach and other recent security foul-ups by AT&T could lead to identity theft - and have consequences for both companies.
Critics and customers have called for Apple to allow other carries to serve the iPhone in the US, and the latest problems offer another argument.
The computer systems at Apple Inc, maker of the iPhone, or AT&T Inc, its exclusive US carrier, have had various problems every year since the first iPhone launched in 2007.
Some customers who tried to buy an iPhone 4 on Tuesday said they were met with error messages on the company websites, and lines formed in stores as clerks tried to get orders into their systems, Japanese phone company Softbank started taking orders earlier in the day, and was also flooded with requests. Softbank spokesman Furuya Katsuhide said the better-than-expected demand had stressed the company's systems, which slowed both its website and the reservation process at stores.
On Gizmodo.com, a technology website, several readers posted stories of trying to log into their AT&T accounts to upgrade to the newest iPhone and being sent instead into strangers' accounts. That could set the stage for identity theft scams such as ordering other products under that person's name.
AT&T said it received reports of customers seeing the wrong account information bur wasn't able to replicate the problem and wasn't able to replicate the problem and was investigating. But the company said the personal information users were seeing in one another's accounts didn't include Social Security numbers, credit card information and detailed call logs.
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