Dive Brief:
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On Monday, a triumphant Apple CEO Tim Cook announced record sales of the company’s new phones. UPDATE: By Tuesday, social media was full of news that the larger iPhone 6 Plus bends quite easily in users’ pockets. But Apple says it has only had nine customers complain about the issue.
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On Wednesday, the company pulled its iOS8 update and advised users to revert to the original release after bugs shut down phone service and rendered many apps unusable. UPDATE: Thursday evening version 8.0.2 contains fixes for the HealthKit apps and other issues.
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The bugs had many app developers scrambling and delayed the release of Apple’s own much-hyped HealthKit fitness ecosystem. Bugs were also apparently causing bluetooth connectivity issues.
Dive Insight:
Apple so far has been able to surf the huge wave of hype that it created at its big event earlier this month; a bit of a backlash is somewhat inevitable and likely to make any flaws loom large. By Thursday morning, many of the outcries over the iPhone 6 troubles — further scrutiny revealed that the smaller phone bends too — had subsided, as many people waited to see how widespread the problem was and what Apple would do about it.
While Apple’s response hasn’t shown the insensitivity of Steve Jobs’s infamous “you’re holding it wrong” response regarding the iPhone 4 not dialing, the company has been somewhat tight-lipped about this week’s issues. Apple said it may replace bent phones on a case-by-case basis, and it’s surely working on its iOS8 issues.
Still, this has been a bumpy week for Apple and the long-term prospects of the new phones remain to be seen. UPDATE: More news may be coming on these issues, but Apple says all is under control.
