Apple cancels Colorado call center citing economy, reduced iPhone calls

Apple has apparently canceled plans to open a new customer support call center in Colorado Springs, due to the slowing economy and the significant improvements delivered by iPhone 2.1 which reduced Apple's support demands.

Sources familiar with the plans reported that Apple had contracted with Volt Information Sciences to staff the call center, which in turn had arranged with 500 employees to begin training sessions on providing iPhone support.

Two weeks ago, Volt recruiters sent out notices to trainees saying, "we received notice from Apple that the iPhone Training Class you were hired for has been pushed back from Sep. 29 to Monday, Oct. 13."

As the call center plans failed to materialize, employees were notified by email last week that "the Volt Colorado Springs Call Center project you were hired for has been cancelled. The project was cancelled due to Economic conditions and improved quality of the product resulting in a reduced volume to the Support lines."

A source speaking to AppleInsider said the call center positions were "clearly temporary (3 to 9 months), but did hold the possibility of becoming a permanent facility with direct Apple employment."

An article in the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the facility scheduled for the training was located in an office building on Garden of the Gods Road, owned by Verizon Communications. A reader commenting on the report noted that the stretch of road was "like a corporate burial ground."

The shift in plans is also a hardship upon the people Volt lined up to staff the center. One employee cited by the paper said that Volt had told him, "We're trying to recover from this mess and we don't have 500 jobs for these people."