AT&T is taking no chances with the launch of the iPhone, and new information suggests that most staff will see their roles — and their privileges — turned upside-down to please customers.
AT&T guides obtained by AppleInsider reveal that the wireless carrier will pull existing staff from ordinary roles to streamline the anticipated workload. In many circumstances, the firm will ask even those that work the backrooms of its stores to temporarily fill new positions.
The corporate memo pays particular attention to those who will man the front lines of the launch. Besides bringing in the temporary workers hired just for the event, AT&T is recommending that its stores keep multiple existing staff available just to manage the queues expected outside of each shop. Marketing, sales, and regional staff will be added to the crowd control roster, even during the morning shifts. These same employees may also need to greet customers at the door, the note says.
Product experts will also be expected to shift their attention from ordinary duties during the crucial 3PM to 10PM phase. Marketers and floorwalkers alike should spend most of their time around the custom iPhone demo booths giving presentations to interested customers.
And unsurprisingly, extra care is being taken to watch inventory on the 29th, with at least one trusted staff member on hand at all times of the day to guard stock and deliver it to the front — even if an assistant manager must fill in during a break, the company says. Third-party accessories are already beginning to arrive, as illustrated by photos below.
Moreover, virtually all employees will be asked to give up some of their typical comforts for the sake of the iPhone introduction. To discourage employees from exploiting their positions and buying iPhones intended for new customers, none of the discounts that normally apply to either devices or plans will hold true for Apple's cellphone.
Staffers will also have to accommodate Apple's characteristically high level of secrecy during this final week before the launch. Special updates, dubbed "iReady" messages, will reach company inboxes on a daily basis and will be necessary to keep tabs on last-minute launch details. Employees with cellphones will even have access to a special subscription that delivers brief versions of the notices to their handsets in off hours.
Regardless of the rush, all employees are expected to be in top form by Friday, knowing as much as possible before the device goes on sale.
"We all have a huge stake in the success of iPhone," AT&T says. "[We want] to make you a great ambassador for this game-changing product."
First iPhone accessories turn up at AT&T retail stores
39 Comments
Good luck to all those AT&T employees...
I nice plastic snap in case like Blackberry's have would be nice.
And good luck to the AT&T people while Mac nerds swarm, swarm, swarm...
gawd, I hope the lineups are how AT&T expects them to be. It'll be horrible if nobody shows up.
The third coming of JOBS!
on Monday July 2 the stock price will be stratospheric!!
Small Child:
"Grandpa, I have a report for school. Do you remember what you were doing on 9/11, you know the airplane thing?"
Me: "Hmm. Let me think... Sorry child I can't remember. Wait! I've got something better. Let me tell you about 6/29, oh child, what a glorious day. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was the day that the first iPhone went on sale."
Small Child: "The iPhone Grandpa, what's that?"
Me: "The first real cellphone..... Why are you looking at me like that? Oh, I see. A cellphone was a little box we held up to our heads to talk to other people."
Small Child: "Grandpa, you are making fun of me. Everybody knows you use an 'Apple iNPERSON' to talk to people."