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Apple fanboys hurt AT&T's image

by on05 October 2009


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Maybe the gizmo was not such a good idea


Executives at
the telco AT&T are starting to rue the day that they signed an exclusive deal with Apple to flog its iPhones.

While the Apple iPhone has boosted AT&T's subscriber numbers, network problems and a bevy of complaints from frustrated customers are likely hurting the company's reputation. Apple fanboys are apparently fuming that the network is not able to handle their traffic and seem to be blaming all of their problems with the phone onto AT&T. After all, they believe that Apple is perfect.

According to consulting firm CFI Group found that iPhone users are the most loyal smartphone users with 90 percent saying they'd recommend the device to a friend, half of all iPhone owners surveyed said they would like to jump ship to another provider if given the chance. It is having a knock on effect across  AT&T's business too.  The outfit has scored worse than all four major U.S. wireless operators in terms of overall customer satisfaction for smartphones.

According to the survey, AT&T scored 69 out of 100 among users, and 73 among non-iPhone owners. Verizon Wireless was the most satisfying carrier with a score or 79 out of 100 among smartphone users. The feeling is that while iPhone has earned AT&T piles the cash comes at a cost in terms of overall satisfaction. Public relations and brand experts warn that if AT&T doesn't take steps now to correct its image that it could come back to haunt the outfit.

Apple fanboys, particularly those keen to complain without blaming Jobs' Mob, have been widely reporting their problems on their blogs and Twitter feeds. AT&T has been dealing with the same way that Apple would. It has not admitted it has any problem with its network.  Any issues that users have are just isolated incidents.
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