Jump to content

300-page iPhone bill: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
←Replaced page with 'this is not true.'
ClueBot (talk | contribs)
1,596,818 edits
m Reverting possible vandalism by 99.142.92.253 to version by Scott5114. False positive? Report it. Thanks, User:ClueBot. (287364) (Bot)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Image:IPhoneBill.png|thumb|[[Justine Ezarik]] showing her 300-page [[iPhone]] bill in a box in the [[YouTube]] video "IPHONE BILL"]]
this is not true.
A '''300-page iPhone bill''' from [[AT&T Mobility]] mailed in a box<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/05/AR2007090500370.html | title = Sexy Portable Storage : The 300-Page iPhone Bill | quote = Justine Ezarik, a graphic designer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, posted a 1-minute video on her blog that shows her opening up a 300-page iPhone bill from AT&T--which was mailed in a box. | accessdate = 2007-10-02 | date = 2007-09-05 | author = Martin, James A. | work = [[Washington Post]] }}</ref>
was the subject of a [[viral video]] by [[Justine Ezarik]] which quickly became an [[Internet meme]] in August 2007.<ref name=Keizer>{{cite web
|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136068/article.html
|title= A 300-page iPhone Bill? : iPhone owners rail at AT&T for paper waste with overly detailed bills.
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Keizer, Gregg
|date=2007-08-16
|work=[[Computerworld]]
|publisher= PC World Communications
|quote=One blogger, in fact, is in the middle of her 15 minutes of fame after posting a video that shows her unwrapping a 300-page AT&T bill.
}}</ref><ref name=Graham>{{cite web
|url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2007-08-14-iphone-bill_N.htm?imw=Y
|title=How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Graham, Jefferson
|authorlink=
|date=2007-08-15
|work=[[USA Today]]
|publisher=[[Gannett]]
|pages=
|language=
|archiveurl=
|archivedate=
|quote=Justine Ezarik, a Pittsburgh graphic designer and active Internet blogger, got her first bill on Saturday. She says it was so huge — 300 pages — it was delivered in a box.}}</ref><ref name="Bloggiest">{{cite web |url=http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/14552595/detail.html |title=Pittsburgh Ranked Third 'Bloggiest' City |date=2007-11-09 |accessdate=2007-11-18 |work=[[WTAE-TV]] News|quote = Pittsburgh native Justine Ezarik's video blog about her 300-page iPhone bill became an Internet [h]it.}}</ref>
Stories of unexpected billing issues began to circulate in [[blog]]s and the technical press after the [[Apple, Inc.|Apple]] [[iPhone]]'s heavily advertised and anticipated release,<ref name=Ho>{{cite web
|url=http://www.coxwashington.com/hp/content/reporters/stories/2007/08/16/BC_IBILL16_COX.html
|title=A 300-page iPhone bill? Too much information, users say
|accessdate=2007-10-02
|author=Ho, David
|date=2007-08-16
|work=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]
|publisher=[[Cox Newspapers]]
|pages=p. C1
|quote=Internet message boards and blogs are buzzing with talk of paper iPhone bills dozens and even hundreds of pages long.
}}</ref><ref name=TelecomWeb/>
but this [[video clip]] brought the voluminous bills to the attention of the [[mass media]].
Ten days later, after the video had been viewed more than 3 million times on the Internet,<ref name=Richards>{{cite web
|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article2313662.ece
|title=Dear iPhone owner: your 300-page bill
|accessdate=2007-08-23
|author= Richards, Jonathan
|date=2007-08-23
|format=
|work=The Times
|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd.
|quote=Mike Brophy, on his blog, General Theory of RIAtivity, showed a picture of a Maltese terrier sitting on his 127-page iPhone bill.
}}</ref><ref name=Hafner>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/business/23bill.html?em&ex=1188014400&en=de1fe8dde56cab98&ei=5087%0A
|title=AT&T’s Overstuffed iPhone Bills Annoy Customers
|accessdate=2007-08-23
|author=Hafner, Katie
|date=2007-08-23
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|quote=Ms. Ezarik, 23, made a one-minute video that shows her flipping through the voluminous bill and posted it to YouTube and other video-sharing sites on Aug. 13. The video has since been viewed more than three million times,
}}</ref>
and had received international news coverage, AT&T sent iPhone users a [[text message]] outlining changes in its billing practices.<ref name=Quinn/>
Two months later, the [[information technology]] magazine ''[[Computerworld]]'' included this event in its list of "Technology's 10 Most Mortifying Moments."<ref name=Haskin>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9041858&pageNumber=2 |title=Technology's 10 Most Mortifying Moments : iPhone Bills Kill Trees|accessdate=2007-11-30 |date = 2007-10-17|author = Haskin, David |work=[[Computerworld]]|quote=The company's extraordinarily detailed billing process resulted in some users receiving bills this August that ran dozens or even hundreds of pages long, as captured in blogger Justine Ezarik's video of her unwrapping a 300-page phone bill. (It came in a box.)}}</ref>

==Background==
[[Image:IPhone Release - Seattle.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[iPhone]]]]
The [[iPhone]], [[Apple, Inc.|Apple]]'s initial entry into the mobile phone market, is a multi-function device.<ref name=Robinson2007>{{cite journal | author = Robinson, S. | year = 2007 | title = Apple iPhone: Catalyst for Capacitive Touchscreen-Only Phones to Balloon to 115 Million Units within Two Years | journal = Strategy Analytics}}</ref> The appeal of its feature set to [[technophiles]],<ref name=MacEdonia2007>{{cite journal | author = MacEdonia, M. | year = 2007 | title = iPhones Target the Tech Elite | journal = Computer | volume = 40 | issue = 6 | pages = 94-95 | issn = 0018-9162}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133639/article.html | title = The iPhone: Lots to Love, but Flaws Too | accessdate = 2007-09-17 | date=2007-06-30 | author = PC World Editors| work = [[PC World (magazine)|PC World]]|quote=Our conclusion: If you want to love this much-hyped gadget, you'll find plenty to go ga-ga over.}}</ref>
and the iPod's wide popularity, generated significant interest even before the iPhone was officially announced on [[January 9]], [[2007]].<ref name=Krazit>{{cite web | url = http://www.news.com/Finally,+Apple+answers+call+for+iPhone/2100-1041_3-6148392.html | title = Finally, Apple answers call for iPhone | date = 2007-01-09 | accessdate = 2007-09-17 | author = Krazit, Tom |coauthors = Jennifer Guevin and Michelle Meyers | work = CNET News |quote=In one of the most anticipated gadget announcements in recent years, Apple Computer at Macworld on Tuesday introduced the "iPhone," a mobile device that CEO Steve Jobs promised will reinvent the phone.}}</ref>
Before the iPhone's debut in the [[United States]] market on [[June 29]], over 11,000 related print articles had already been published.<ref name=Pogue>{{cite web | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/technology/circuits/27pogue.html?ex=1190001600&en=42e2ea76b04c524e&ei=5070 | title = The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype | accessdate = 2007-09-22 | date = 2007-06-27 | author = Pogue, David | work = [[The New York Times]] | quote= In the last six months, Apple’s iPhone has been the subject of 11,000 print articles, and it turns up about 69 million hits on Google. }}</ref>

Apple released the iPhone with a software "lock" so it could only be used on the [[AT&T Mobility]] [[Wireless network|network]].<ref name=Krazit/> After purchase, buyers activated their iPhone's AT&T service contract using the Apple [[iTunes]] web page,<ref name=Pogue/> during which buyers had the ability to choose their billing preference; however, if no option was specified during activation, AT&T defaulted to detailed billing.<ref name=Perenson>{{cite web | url = http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/082307-the-300-page-iphone-bill-to.html?nwwpkg=iphone | title = The 300-page iPhone bill to disappear | accessdate = 2007-09-22 | date =2007-08-23 | author = Perenson, Melissa J.| work = [[PC World (magazine)|PC World]] | publisher=[[Network World]]|quote='What we've had until yesterday was the detailed bill as the default option,' explains AT&T Wireless spokesman Mark Siegel.}}</ref>
Detailed billing itemized every data transfer, including background traffic for [[e-mail]], [[text messaging]], and [[Web browser|Web browsing]],<ref name=Hafner/> even when the phone is off.<ref name="CNN.com">{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/traveltips/12/19/cell.phones/ |title=Tips for using cell phones overseas |accessdate=2007-12-28 | date=2007-12-19 |first = Andrea | last = Bennett|work=Travel and Leisure | publisher = [[CNN]]|quote=...novel-length bills in the mail (customer Justine Ezarik posted a YouTube video of herself opening a 300-page bill that AT&T sent to her in a box). What's the problem? It turns out that the iPhone automatically checks e-mail and performs other Internet data updates, even when the phone function is off.}}</ref> This generated a large number of entries on the detailed bills.<ref name=Ho/>

After a month's time,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1118034&CatID=19 |title=Opinion : Phone service |accessdate=2007-09-04 |date=2007-08-27 |work= Daily News & Analysis, India |publisher= Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. |quote=The new iPhone has been staggering users, first with its gizmo-good-looks, then with its functionality and now, about a month after it was launched, with its bills.}}</ref>
as [[early adopters]] started receiving their first monthly bills, stories of unusually large and expensive iPhone bills began to circulate. The 300-page bill was exceptional, but other heavy users received 50- to 100-page bills.<ref name="titleGirl Videotapes 300-Page iPhone Bill - Switched: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Stuff for the Rest of Us">{{cite web |url=http://www.switched.com/2007/08/14/girl-gets-300-page-iphone-bill-delivered-in-a-box/ |title=Girl Videotapes 300-Page iPhone Bill - Switched: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Stuff for the Rest of Us |accessdate=2007-12-28 | date = 2007-08-14 | first=Terrence | last=O'Brien|work=Switched | publisher = [[AOL]] | quote = A 300-page bill is certainly uncommon, but 50-100 pages is fairly normal for heavy texters and mobile web users. }}</ref>
One of the first to attract wider attention was from Ben Kuchera, gaming editor for the technology-related website ''[[Ars Technica]]'', who, in an [[August 11]] blog posting, described his 34-sheet, doubled-sided bill and another 104 page bill sent to a colleague,<ref name=Ho/><ref name=TelecomWeb>{{cite web | url = http://www.freepress.net/news/25532 | title = Singing the iPhone Billing Blues | accessdate = 2007-09-20 |date=2007-08-17| work = TelecomWeb News |publisher=Free Press|quote=The first flock of iPhone fanatics have gotten their first bills this week — some of them 300 pages long and delivered in a box, others for $3,000 or more.}}</ref>
writing, “while many of us have had smart-phones for some time, we’ve never seen a bill like this.”<ref name=Ayres>{{cite web |url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article2317395.ece |title=The iPhone bill that’s as thick as a novel |accessdate=2007-12-28| date = 2004-08-27 |first = Chris last = Ayres |work=[[The Times]] (London)| publisher = News International|quote = 'While many of us have had smart-phones for some time, we’ve never seen a bill like this,' wrote Ben Kuchera on the Ars Technica website yesterday. }}</ref>
However, it was the release of Ezarik's video that acted as a catalyst to bring widespread media attention to this aspect of the iPhone story.<ref name=Lyons/>

==Video==
Ezarik, a 23-year-old<ref name=Lyons>{{cite web
|url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/tribpm/s_522522.html
|title=The blog is on
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Lyons, Kim
|date=2007-08-16
|work=[[Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]]
|publisher=Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
|quote=Ezarik, 23, of Carnegie, made national news yesterday with a video of her flipping through her 300-page bill from AT&T -- mailed in a box -- for her new iPhone.
}}</ref>
[[Pittsburgh]]-area [[graphic designer]], [[Sketch comedy|sketch comedian]], and [[blogger]], received her 300-page bill on Saturday [[August 11]], [[2007]],<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1344359.php/Thirty_thousand_text_messages_equal_a_forest_killing_300-page_phone_bill
|title=Thirty thousand text messages equal a forest killing 300-page phone bill
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Ragan, Steve
|date=2007-08-17
|work=Monsters and Critics
|publisher=WotR Ltd.
|quote=The box arrived last Saturday and inside it contained her first bill after she purchased Apple’s iPhone.
}}</ref>
and decided to use it as a [[Theatrical property|prop]] for a self-produced video shot in a coffee shop.<ref name=Stockey/> She posted the edited one-minute clip to several popular Internet [[video hosting service]]s by the following Monday.<ref name=Stockey/>
In the first week, the video received over 500,000 total views on [[YouTube]], 350,000 views on [[Revver]], 500,000 views on [[Break.com]] and 1,100,000 views on [[Yahoo Video]], as self-reported by the four popular internet video sites as of [[August 22]]. Total views were reported to exceed 8 million by the end of 2007, but Ezarik claimed she only earned US$2000 from the video, because only the views on Revver generate compensation for the creator.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/12/online_fame_easy_ads_harder_to.php |title=Online Fame Easy; Ads Harder to Get | date = 2007-12-08 | author = Whitney, Daisy| accessdate=2007-12-15 |work=TVWeek |quote=…8 million views across YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo and Revver. …only 300,000 views came via Revver, where she gets paid for her work. She pocketed a mere $2,000 from her biggest Web hit, she said.}}</ref>

[[Image:ABC Money Matters 2007 08 17.jpg|thumb|[[Justine Ezarik|Ezarik]]'s interview on [[ABC News Now]] on [[August 17]], [[2007]], discussing her bill.]]
Portions of the video were also televised along with one-on-one interviews with Ezarik by several national and local news programs in the United States, including [[CNN]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/16/gb.01.html | title = CNN.com - Transcripts | accessdate = 2007-09-18 |date=2007-08-16| author = Glenn Beck| work = [[CNN]]}}</ref>
[[Fox News Channel]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launchPage.html?081707/081707_studiob_iphone&iSurprise&Studio_B&Blogger%20shocked%20after%20receiving%20300-page%20iPhone%20bill&Technology&-1&iSurprise&Video%20Launch%20Page&News | title = Video: iSurprise : Blogger shocked after receiving 300-page iPhone bill| accessdate = 2007-09-13 | date = 2007-08-17 | work =Studio B| publisher= [[Fox News Channel]] | author = [[Shepard Smith]]}}</ref>
[[WTAE-TV]],<ref name=Stockey/>
and [[WPXI-TV]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wpxi.com/news/13899466/detail.html |title=Local iPhone Customer Gets 300-Page Phone Bill |accessdate=2007-09-04 |date=2007-08-15 |work=WPXI Pittsburgh |quote=Channel 11’s Andy Gastmeyer met with Ezarik...to discuss the bill.}}</ref>
[[ABC News Now]] also included independent reporting by an [[ABC News Radio]] reporter in their video interview.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3492501 | title = Getting the iPhone Bill | accessdate = 2007-09-22 | work = ABC News Now: Money Matters | publisher=[[ABC News]]|quote=First billing cycle arrives looking more like a novel then a bill.}}</ref> In print media, the video's story was featured nationally in ''[[USA Today]]'' with independent reporting from major daily papers in [[New York]], [[Los Angeles]], several other large cities in the U.S., and in the [[United Kingdom]], even though the iPhone was not available outside the U.S. market at the time.

Ezarik's internet video commentary focused on the [[Conservation ethic|unnecessary waste]] of paper billing. In the video she highlights the physical size of the bill, not the amount due. "I have an iPhone and I had to switch to AT&T. So, that's wonderful. Well, I got my first AT&T bill, right here in a box," she says at the start of the video.<ref name=Stockey>{{cite web
|url=http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/13898996/detail.html
|title=Pittsburgh Blogger's 300-Page iPhone Bill Mailed In Box
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Stockey, Andrew
|date=2007-08-15
|format=
|work=[[WTAE-TV]] News, Pittsburgh
|publisher=The Pittsburgh Channel
|quote="I have an iPhone and I had to switch to AT&T. So, that's wonderful. Well, I got my first AT&T bill, right here in a box," she says in the video.
}}</ref>
The rest of the video, set to the distinctive music used in American iPhone television commercials, shows her opening the box and flipping through the pages in fast motion.<ref name=Levine/> The clip ends with the on-screen caption "Use e-billing. Save a forest."<ref name=Ho/>

Her other comments also followed along the same lines. In a blog posting, she wrote, "apparently, they give you a detailed transaction of every text message sent and received. Completely unnecessary."<ref name=Keizer/>
She told the ''USA Today'' reporter, "This is so silly, there's no reason they need to send you this much information."<ref name=Graham/> Ezarik is a heavy user who typically sends and receives tens of thousands of text messages a month, which generated an exceptionally long bill&nbsp;–&nbsp;300 double-sided pages that had to be sent in a box with postage charges of [[US$]]7.<ref name=Phillips>{{cite web
|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3478095&page=1
|title=Bulky iPhone Bills Can Top 300 Pages
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Phillips, Ashley
|date=2007-08-14
|work=
|publisher=[[ABC News]]
|quote=For a heavy user like Ezarik -- she typically sends 30,000 text messages a month -- an itemized bill was incredibly long and heavy. The postage on her bill was $7.}}</ref>
In media interviews Ezarik was asked the amount due, and answered that her first bill was for US$275.<ref name=Graham/>

She had no complaints about the iPhone itself, saying, "I made the video only to point out the comical aspect of my phone bill being delivered in a box. As for the iPhone? I love it."<ref name=Littlejohn>{{cite news <!-- |url=http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=74758&cat=Business+News&more=%2Fnews%2Fmore-business-news.asp --> |title=300-page iPhone Bill |accessdate=2007-09-04 |author= Littlejohn, Georgina |date= 2007-08-25 |work= Hispanic Business News|publisher=ProQuest Information and Learning Company |quote=One million iPhone customers across the US have filed complaints with manufacturer Apple about the size of their phone bills.}}</ref>

==Reaction==
===Company===
[[AT&T Mobility]], the [[mobile phone]] service provider for the iPhone, said through spokesman Mark Siegel that the size of this bill was exceptional. "We're not sending lots of boxed bills to customers," he told the ''USA Today'' reporter. The billing is the same for all AT&T mobile users, but the popularity and functionality of the iPhone has given it new visibility. "It's no different than with any other bill for any other device or any other service that we offer", Siegel said.<ref name=Ho/>

Later, on [[August 18]], AT&T issued a statement saying: "Our customers have the option of receiving a bill that is detail-free. Also, we have for years encouraged our customers to switch to online billing because it is convenient, secure and environmentally friendly."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070817_lj_brady.43920fb0.html
|title=Woman mocks 300-page bill-in-a-box
|accessdate=2007-08-22
|author=Brady, Jeff
|date=2007-08-18
|work=[[WFAA-TV]] news (Dallas/Fort Worth)
|publisher=
|pages=
|language=
|archiveurl=
|archivedate=
|quote= AT&T issued a statement today saying: 'Our customers have the option of receiving a bill that is detail-free. Also, we have for years encouraged our customers to switch to online billing because it is convenient, secure and environmentally friendly.'&nbsp;}}</ref>
Then, on [[August 22]], AT&T sent the following text message to iPhone users: "AT&T free msg: We are simplifying your paper bill, removing itemized detail. To view all detail go to att.com/mywireless. Still need full paper bill? call 611."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/08/22/att-says-no-more-300-page-iphone-bills
|title=AT&T says "No more 300-page iPhone bills"
|accessdate=2007-08-22
|author=Cheng, Jacqui
|date=2007-08-22
|work=Ars Technica
|quote=Surely due to the recent flurry over massively large iPhone bills, AT&T has begun sending text messages to its iPhone users assuring them that 50, or 75, or 300+ page iPhone bills will no longer be sent to their houses (unless they want them).
}}</ref><ref name=Hafner/> Ezarik was quoted as saying, "Looks like they may have got the message," in response to AT&T's action.<ref name=Hafner/> Company spokeswoman Lauren Garner, however, said public reaction was not the reason for the company's switch from detailed to summary billing, saying, "this was something we planned all along."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/339802.html
|title=Long iPhone bills go away
|accessdate=2007-08-23
|author= Swett, Clint
|date=2007-08-23
|work=[[The Sacramento Bee]]
|quote=But company spokeswoman Lauren Garner said the outcry had no bearing on AT&T's decision to send billing summaries rather than the full bills.
}}</ref><ref name=Levine/>

===Industry===
AT&T may not have anticipated the downstream effects of iPhone customers' high data usage.<ref name=Quinn>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-iphone23aug23,1,3929825.story?ctrack=1&cset=true |title=AT & T to keep iPhone bills brief |accessdate=2007-09-04 |author=Quinn, Michelle |date= 2007-08-23|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |archivedate= |quote=But the company hadn't anticipated how much iPhone users would do with their new gadget, which combines a cellphone, Web-surfing device and iPod.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.idm.net.au/story.asp?id=8760 |title=No More 300 Page Bills for iPhone Customers |accessdate=2007-09-04 |author=McNevin, Greg |date= 2007-08-29|work=Image and Data Manager, Australia|publisher= Knapp Communications|quote=...the incident illustrates how the rollout of new technology can collide with old automated billing services if appropriate steps aren’t taken.}}</ref>
Adam Zawek, a spokesman at Boston-based InMobile.org, an online community for wireless executives, speculated that more than "business as usual" was involved with the large bills: "I suspect a messy combination of CRM strategy and billing system limitations," referring to [[customer relationship management]], a comprehensive term covering the way an organization interacts with customers. He said the detailed billing is probably intended to prevent expensive calls to customer-care centers.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7144
|title=iPhone: The 800-Pound Gorilla Spawns a 300-Page Bill
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Thilmany, Jean
|date=2007-08-17
|work=Destination CRM
|publisher=CRM Media
|quote="Fear of customer-care calls is a huge driver of everything because they give someone like AT&T two whammies," Zawek says.
}}</ref>
Instead, AT&T call centers were flooded with complaints about the size of the bills.<ref name="Daily Mail">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=477451&in_page_id=1811 |title=300-page iPhone bill that's as thick as a novel |accessdate=2007-09-04 |date=2007-08-28 |work= [[The Daily Mail]]|publisher= Associated Newspapers Ltd. |quote=One million iPhone customers across the US have filed complaints with manufacturer Apple about the size of their phone bills.… AT&T Wireless, Apple's phone company partner, have been inundated with complaints from customers about the lengthy bills.}}</ref>

[[Rob Enderle]], a Silicon Valley tech analyst, told ABC News the voluminous bills are just another problem with the iPhone service, citing connection problems, customer support, coverage and "now bills that look like books." He said the large bills not only make no financial sense, they annoy customers as well.<ref name=Phillips/> Internet reporter [[Dana Blankenhorn]] went further, stating that the size of the bill illustrated a problem with the [[Telephone company|telephone companies]]' "event based" or [[connection-oriented]] [[business model]], and used it to argue for [[open spectrum]] in a [[radio frequency]] [[spectrum auction]] in the U.S. scheduled for 2008. He contrasted how in telephone billing every action is a separately billable event, while the Internet model is based on a [[flat fee]] for [[best effort delivery]] in [[connectionless mode transmission]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1332
|title=The iPhone bill demonstrates need for open spectrum
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Blankenhorn, Dana
|authorlink=
|coauthors=
|date=
|format=
|work=[[ZDNet]]
|publisher=[[CNET Networks]]
|pages=
|language=
|archiveurl=
|archivedate=
|quote=It’s the 300 page iPhone bill, in a box that cost $10 to ship, and nothing could better illustrate the need for open spectrum as we head into an election year.
}}</ref>

===Environmental===
Enderle also echoed Ezarik environmental activism, saying, "AT&T should get a new tagline — use AT&T, kill a tree."<ref name=Phillips/>
The ''USA Today'' story was also titled "How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?"<ref name=Graham/> According to blogger Muhammad Saleem, Apple’s aim to have 10 million iPhone users by the end of 2008 would require the logging of about 74,535 trees annually, assuming an average 100 page monthly bill.<!-- Note: Although blogs are generally not reliable sources, this statement is referenced to other secondary sources, not the blog entry. --><ref name=Levine>{{cite web | url = http://www.cio-today.com/news/AT-T-Decides-To-Kill-the-iPhone-Bill/story.xhtml?story_id=1200091KVVLC | title = AT&T Decides To Kill the iPhone Bill | accessdate = 2007-09-14 | date=2007-08-24 | author = Levine, Barry | work = CIO Today | quote = One blogger estimated that a 100-page bill, delivered monthly, would mean curtains for nearly 75,000 trees annually.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Massive_ATT_iPhone_Bills_Considered_Useless_07820.html
|title=Massive AT&T iPhone Bills Considered Useless
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author= Brenn, Max
|work= eFluxMedia
|quote=For these huge amounts of paper to be printed many trees have to be sacrificed and, according to blogger Muhammad Saleem, Apple’s aim to have 10 million iPhone users by the end of 2008 would require the logging of about 74,535 trees annually.
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://db.tidbits.com/article/9116
|title=iPhone Billing and International Issues
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Brown, Jorg
|date=2007-08-17
|work=TidBITS
|quote=This is an idiotic waste of paper (blogger Muhammad Saleem estimated it at nearly 75,000 trees per year)...}}</ref>
An editorial in ''[[The Blade]]'', an independent newspaper in [[Toledo, Ohio]], called the detailed billing "absurd and environmentally wasteful"<ref>{{cite web | url = http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070823/OPINION02/708230304 | title = A bill in a box is a waste | date=2007-08-23 | accessdate = 2007-09-14 | work = [[Toledo Blade]] | quote=IN THE cyberspace age, it is absurd and environmentally wasteful for telephone companies to give customers such detailed billing statements that they arrive in thickly packed envelopes or boxes.}}</ref>

[[Apple Inc.]], the developer and retailer for the iPhone, has positioned itself as an [[environmentally responsible company]] since 1990,<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.apple.com/environment/
|title=Apple - Environment
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|publisher= Apple, Inc.
|quote=Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen and is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create.
}}</ref>
and former U.S. Vice President, now environmental activist, [[Al Gore]] sits on its [[board of directors]].<ref name=CNNMoney>{{cite web | url = http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/23/technology/iphone_bill/index.htm | title = AT&T drops iPhone bills that ran hundreds of pages |date = 2007-08-23 | accessdate = 2007-09-22 | work = CNNMoney.com | quote = Brophy's blog post asked "Has anyone on the Apple Environmental Team seen an AT&T bill?" Former Vice President Al Gore, an environmental activist, sits on the Apple board.}}</ref>
The company has adopted the [[green computing]] model in its new products, in particular their new [[iMac]], so Apple customers may have been surprised by AT&T's legacy business practices.<ref name=Barnett/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/17065
|title=First iPhone Bills Arriving—and They're Pretty Heavy : Gina Hughes : Yahoo! Tech
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Hughes, Gina
|date=2007-08-13
|work=[[Yahoo! Tech]]
|publisher=[[Yahoo!]]
|quote=Apple has modified its products as it attempts to build greener computers, but I think they forgot to tell AT&T about their latest environmental efforts.
}}</ref>
One million iPhone customers had reportedly complained to Apple about the size of the iPhone bills,<ref name="Daily Mail"/><ref name=Littlejohn/> although it should be noted that Apple had not yet shipped one million iPhones at the time.<ref>{{cite press release
| title =Apple Sets iPhone Price at $399 for this Holiday Season
| publisher =Apple Inc.
| date =2007-09-05
| url =http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/09/05iphone.html
| accessdate =2007-09-05 }}</ref>
Customers who read the entire bill found the following statement at the very end: "The New AT&T is going green."<ref name=Barnett>{{cite web
|url=http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2007/08/14/little-phone-big-bill?addComment=true
|title=Daily Brief: Little Phone, Big Bill
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author= Barnett, Megan
|date=2007-08-14
|work=Portfolio.com
|publisher=[[Conde Nast]]
|quote=At the end of the bill, if anyone actually reads that far, the phone company has an announcement to make. "The New AT&T is going green."
}}</ref>

===Security===
One security conscious commenter on the ''[[Engadget]]'' [[consumer electronics]] blog addressed the privacy implications of the oversize bills given the limitations of personal [[paper shredder]]s, by speculating on whether it would be more practical to dispose of these large bills by burning them to protect personal information.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/24/wiphone124.xml |title=iPhone bill is as thick as a novel |accessdate=2007-09-07 |author= Smit, Martina |date=2007-08-24 |work=[[Daily Telegraph]] |quote=Another user remarks on the site engadget.com: 'I shred my bills when I am done with them. I am guessing a bonfire is more economical then buying an industrial sized shredder to deal with that pile of paper...'}}</ref> An editor for the [[Libertarian]] monthly ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' also speculated about the usefulness of the detailed information to government investigators.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.reason.com/blog/show/121978.html | title = Hit & Run > The Feeding of the 300 | accessdate = 2007-09-20 |date=2007-08-16 | author = Weigel, David | work = Reason Magazine| quote=I suppose if you're a federal investigator you're hoping some criminals bought into the iFad, because you can find anything about users' usage that you want.}}</ref> The original [[Ars Technica]] blog posting, on the other hand, dismissed privacy concerns, showing that the detail pages do not contain sensitive information.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070811-iphone-bill-is-surprisingly-xbox-huge-lol.html | title = iPhone bill is surprisingly Xbox HUGE (lol) | accessdate = 2007-09-20 | 2007-08-11 | author = Kuchera, Ben| work = Ars Technica|quote=Okay, so maybe we should be happy that the pages upon pages of info in this bill aren't going to send privacy advocates into seizures...}}</ref>

==Other outsized iPhone bills==
<!-- Note: Reliable Sources included related commentary in their coverage of this topic, and it is included here based on this. -->
Press accounts of this story also included related details and comments:
*The founder of a [[Tampa, Florida]] [[think tank]] received a 42-page bill, and told a reporter, "it's ridiculous."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/16/Business/iPhone_bills_land_wit.shtml
|title=Business: iPhone bills land with a thump
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|author=Bora, Madhusmita
|date=2007-08-16
|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]
|quote=AT&T took 42 pages to slap him with the $95 bill.
}}</ref>
*An [[Oak Harbor, Ohio]], teacher called his 52-page bill, "the biggest phone bill I've ever gotten in my life."<ref name=Graham/>
*A partner of a [[Macintosh]] consulting firm, called his bill "60 pages of nothingness"<ref name=Barnett/>
*A business consultant from [[Virginia]] received a 62-page bill, and asked a reporter, "Why would you send bills that large?"<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/business.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-16-0106.html
|title=AT&T users, may find a big bill in the mail
|accessdate=2007-08-19
|date=2007-08-16
|author=Kelley, Jeffrey
|work=[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]
|quote=Henrico County resident Steve Kimball, for instance, received a 62-page bill this week.
}}</ref>
*A software company owner near [[Seattle, Washington]] posted on his blog a picture of a [[Maltese (dog)|Maltese terrier]] sitting on his 127-page bill spread out on the floor.<ref name=Hafner/><ref name=Richards>{{cite web
|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article2313662.ece
|title=Dear iPhone owner: your 300-page bill
|accessdate=2007-08-23
|author= Richards, Jonathan
|date=2007-08-23
|format=
|work=The Times
|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd.
|quote=Mike Brophy, on his blog, General Theory of RIAtivity, showed a picture of a Maltese terrier sitting on his 127-page iPhone bill.
}}</ref> and asked, "Has anyone on the Apple Environmental Team seen an AT&T bill?"<ref name=CNNMoney/>
*"The Packet Rat" columnist wrote in ''Government Computer News'' that his wife received a 150-page boxed iPhone bill, and commented "OK, how many trees did they have to kill to send out the first month’s bills?".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gcn.com/print/26_22/44949-1.html |title=The Packet Rat : Commentary: The other shoe - measured by the ton - drops with the iPhone bill |accessdate=2007-09-04 |author=Fink, R. |date= 2007-08-27|work= Government Computer News|publisher= 105 Media, Inc.|archivedate= |quote='OK, how many trees did they have to kill to send out the first month’s bills?' the Rat half-growled, half-cackled as he contemplated the wood-pulp brick packed with 150 pages of hard copy.}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==See also==
* [[History of the iPhone]]

==External links==
===Video links===
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdULhkh6yeA "IPHONE BILL"], Justine Ezarik's video, on [[YouTube]]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h-jFzQFMLw Raw Interview Of Blogger Who Got 300-Page iPhone Bill] from [[WTAE-TV]] News, [[Pittsburgh]]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YaR6vB5l6E Pittsburgh Blogger's 300-Page iPhone Bill Mailed In Box] news story from [[WTAE-TV]] News
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7rjcnKZijM iBill Madness - Story about Justine (CBS 2 News)] news coverage from [[WBBM-TV]] [[Chicago]]

===Blogs===
* [http://tastyblogsnack.com/2007/08/13/iphone-bill/ Justine Ezarik's blog] entry, with the original [[August 13]], [[2007]] iPhone bill video posting.

[[Category:Apple Inc. hardware]]
[[Category:Mobile phone culture]]
[[Category:Internet memes]]
[[Category:Apple Inc.]]
[[Category:YouTube videos]]
[[Category:Viral videos]]

Revision as of 21:49, 25 March 2008

File:IPhoneBill.png
Justine Ezarik showing her 300-page iPhone bill in a box in the YouTube video "IPHONE BILL"

A 300-page iPhone bill from AT&T Mobility mailed in a box[1] was the subject of a viral video by Justine Ezarik which quickly became an Internet meme in August 2007.[2][3][4] Stories of unexpected billing issues began to circulate in blogs and the technical press after the Apple iPhone's heavily advertised and anticipated release,[5][6] but this video clip brought the voluminous bills to the attention of the mass media. Ten days later, after the video had been viewed more than 3 million times on the Internet,[7][8] and had received international news coverage, AT&T sent iPhone users a text message outlining changes in its billing practices.[9] Two months later, the information technology magazine Computerworld included this event in its list of "Technology's 10 Most Mortifying Moments."[10]

Background

File:IPhone Release - Seattle.jpg
The iPhone

The iPhone, Apple's initial entry into the mobile phone market, is a multi-function device.[11] The appeal of its feature set to technophiles,[12][13] and the iPod's wide popularity, generated significant interest even before the iPhone was officially announced on January 9, 2007.[14] Before the iPhone's debut in the United States market on June 29, over 11,000 related print articles had already been published.[15]

Apple released the iPhone with a software "lock" so it could only be used on the AT&T Mobility network.[14] After purchase, buyers activated their iPhone's AT&T service contract using the Apple iTunes web page,[15] during which buyers had the ability to choose their billing preference; however, if no option was specified during activation, AT&T defaulted to detailed billing.[16] Detailed billing itemized every data transfer, including background traffic for e-mail, text messaging, and Web browsing,[8] even when the phone is off.[17] This generated a large number of entries on the detailed bills.[5]

After a month's time,[18] as early adopters started receiving their first monthly bills, stories of unusually large and expensive iPhone bills began to circulate. The 300-page bill was exceptional, but other heavy users received 50- to 100-page bills.[19] One of the first to attract wider attention was from Ben Kuchera, gaming editor for the technology-related website Ars Technica, who, in an August 11 blog posting, described his 34-sheet, doubled-sided bill and another 104 page bill sent to a colleague,[5][6] writing, “while many of us have had smart-phones for some time, we’ve never seen a bill like this.”[20] However, it was the release of Ezarik's video that acted as a catalyst to bring widespread media attention to this aspect of the iPhone story.[21]

Video

Ezarik, a 23-year-old[21] Pittsburgh-area graphic designer, sketch comedian, and blogger, received her 300-page bill on Saturday August 11, 2007,[22] and decided to use it as a prop for a self-produced video shot in a coffee shop.[23] She posted the edited one-minute clip to several popular Internet video hosting services by the following Monday.[23] In the first week, the video received over 500,000 total views on YouTube, 350,000 views on Revver, 500,000 views on Break.com and 1,100,000 views on Yahoo Video, as self-reported by the four popular internet video sites as of August 22. Total views were reported to exceed 8 million by the end of 2007, but Ezarik claimed she only earned US$2000 from the video, because only the views on Revver generate compensation for the creator.[24]

File:ABC Money Matters 2007 08 17.jpg
Ezarik's interview on ABC News Now on August 17, 2007, discussing her bill.

Portions of the video were also televised along with one-on-one interviews with Ezarik by several national and local news programs in the United States, including CNN,[25] Fox News Channel,[26] WTAE-TV,[23] and WPXI-TV.[27] ABC News Now also included independent reporting by an ABC News Radio reporter in their video interview.[28] In print media, the video's story was featured nationally in USA Today with independent reporting from major daily papers in New York, Los Angeles, several other large cities in the U.S., and in the United Kingdom, even though the iPhone was not available outside the U.S. market at the time.

Ezarik's internet video commentary focused on the unnecessary waste of paper billing. In the video she highlights the physical size of the bill, not the amount due. "I have an iPhone and I had to switch to AT&T. So, that's wonderful. Well, I got my first AT&T bill, right here in a box," she says at the start of the video.[23] The rest of the video, set to the distinctive music used in American iPhone television commercials, shows her opening the box and flipping through the pages in fast motion.[29] The clip ends with the on-screen caption "Use e-billing. Save a forest."[5]

Her other comments also followed along the same lines. In a blog posting, she wrote, "apparently, they give you a detailed transaction of every text message sent and received. Completely unnecessary."[2] She told the USA Today reporter, "This is so silly, there's no reason they need to send you this much information."[3] Ezarik is a heavy user who typically sends and receives tens of thousands of text messages a month, which generated an exceptionally long bill – 300 double-sided pages that had to be sent in a box with postage charges of US$7.[30] In media interviews Ezarik was asked the amount due, and answered that her first bill was for US$275.[3]

She had no complaints about the iPhone itself, saying, "I made the video only to point out the comical aspect of my phone bill being delivered in a box. As for the iPhone? I love it."[31]

Reaction

Company

AT&T Mobility, the mobile phone service provider for the iPhone, said through spokesman Mark Siegel that the size of this bill was exceptional. "We're not sending lots of boxed bills to customers," he told the USA Today reporter. The billing is the same for all AT&T mobile users, but the popularity and functionality of the iPhone has given it new visibility. "It's no different than with any other bill for any other device or any other service that we offer", Siegel said.[5]

Later, on August 18, AT&T issued a statement saying: "Our customers have the option of receiving a bill that is detail-free. Also, we have for years encouraged our customers to switch to online billing because it is convenient, secure and environmentally friendly."[32] Then, on August 22, AT&T sent the following text message to iPhone users: "AT&T free msg: We are simplifying your paper bill, removing itemized detail. To view all detail go to att.com/mywireless. Still need full paper bill? call 611."[33][8] Ezarik was quoted as saying, "Looks like they may have got the message," in response to AT&T's action.[8] Company spokeswoman Lauren Garner, however, said public reaction was not the reason for the company's switch from detailed to summary billing, saying, "this was something we planned all along."[34][29]

Industry

AT&T may not have anticipated the downstream effects of iPhone customers' high data usage.[9][35] Adam Zawek, a spokesman at Boston-based InMobile.org, an online community for wireless executives, speculated that more than "business as usual" was involved with the large bills: "I suspect a messy combination of CRM strategy and billing system limitations," referring to customer relationship management, a comprehensive term covering the way an organization interacts with customers. He said the detailed billing is probably intended to prevent expensive calls to customer-care centers.[36] Instead, AT&T call centers were flooded with complaints about the size of the bills.[37]

Rob Enderle, a Silicon Valley tech analyst, told ABC News the voluminous bills are just another problem with the iPhone service, citing connection problems, customer support, coverage and "now bills that look like books." He said the large bills not only make no financial sense, they annoy customers as well.[30] Internet reporter Dana Blankenhorn went further, stating that the size of the bill illustrated a problem with the telephone companies' "event based" or connection-oriented business model, and used it to argue for open spectrum in a radio frequency spectrum auction in the U.S. scheduled for 2008. He contrasted how in telephone billing every action is a separately billable event, while the Internet model is based on a flat fee for best effort delivery in connectionless mode transmission.[38]

Environmental

Enderle also echoed Ezarik environmental activism, saying, "AT&T should get a new tagline — use AT&T, kill a tree."[30] The USA Today story was also titled "How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?"[3] According to blogger Muhammad Saleem, Apple’s aim to have 10 million iPhone users by the end of 2008 would require the logging of about 74,535 trees annually, assuming an average 100 page monthly bill.[29][39][40] An editorial in The Blade, an independent newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, called the detailed billing "absurd and environmentally wasteful"[41]

Apple Inc., the developer and retailer for the iPhone, has positioned itself as an environmentally responsible company since 1990,[42] and former U.S. Vice President, now environmental activist, Al Gore sits on its board of directors.[43] The company has adopted the green computing model in its new products, in particular their new iMac, so Apple customers may have been surprised by AT&T's legacy business practices.[44][45] One million iPhone customers had reportedly complained to Apple about the size of the iPhone bills,[37][31] although it should be noted that Apple had not yet shipped one million iPhones at the time.[46] Customers who read the entire bill found the following statement at the very end: "The New AT&T is going green."[44]

Security

One security conscious commenter on the Engadget consumer electronics blog addressed the privacy implications of the oversize bills given the limitations of personal paper shredders, by speculating on whether it would be more practical to dispose of these large bills by burning them to protect personal information.[47] An editor for the Libertarian monthly Reason also speculated about the usefulness of the detailed information to government investigators.[48] The original Ars Technica blog posting, on the other hand, dismissed privacy concerns, showing that the detail pages do not contain sensitive information.[49]

Other outsized iPhone bills

Press accounts of this story also included related details and comments:

  • The founder of a Tampa, Florida think tank received a 42-page bill, and told a reporter, "it's ridiculous."[50]
  • An Oak Harbor, Ohio, teacher called his 52-page bill, "the biggest phone bill I've ever gotten in my life."[3]
  • A partner of a Macintosh consulting firm, called his bill "60 pages of nothingness"[44]
  • A business consultant from Virginia received a 62-page bill, and asked a reporter, "Why would you send bills that large?"[51]
  • A software company owner near Seattle, Washington posted on his blog a picture of a Maltese terrier sitting on his 127-page bill spread out on the floor.[8][7] and asked, "Has anyone on the Apple Environmental Team seen an AT&T bill?"[43]
  • "The Packet Rat" columnist wrote in Government Computer News that his wife received a 150-page boxed iPhone bill, and commented "OK, how many trees did they have to kill to send out the first month’s bills?".[52]

References

  1. ^ Martin, James A. (2007-09-05). "Sexy Portable Storage : The 300-Page iPhone Bill". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-10-02. Justine Ezarik, a graphic designer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, posted a 1-minute video on her blog that shows her opening up a 300-page iPhone bill from AT&T--which was mailed in a box.
  2. ^ a b Keizer, Gregg (2007-08-16). "A 300-page iPhone Bill? : iPhone owners rail at AT&T for paper waste with overly detailed bills". Computerworld. PC World Communications. Retrieved 2007-08-19. One blogger, in fact, is in the middle of her 15 minutes of fame after posting a video that shows her unwrapping a 300-page AT&T bill.
  3. ^ a b c d e Graham, Jefferson (2007-08-15). "How many trees did your iPhone bill kill?". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved 2007-08-19. Justine Ezarik, a Pittsburgh graphic designer and active Internet blogger, got her first bill on Saturday. She says it was so huge — 300 pages — it was delivered in a box.
  4. ^ "Pittsburgh Ranked Third 'Bloggiest' City". WTAE-TV News. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2007-11-18. Pittsburgh native Justine Ezarik's video blog about her 300-page iPhone bill became an Internet [h]it.
  5. ^ a b c d e Ho, David (2007-08-16). "A 300-page iPhone bill? Too much information, users say". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Newspapers. pp. p. C1. Retrieved 2007-10-02. Internet message boards and blogs are buzzing with talk of paper iPhone bills dozens and even hundreds of pages long. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ a b "Singing the iPhone Billing Blues". TelecomWeb News. Free Press. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-09-20. The first flock of iPhone fanatics have gotten their first bills this week — some of them 300 pages long and delivered in a box, others for $3,000 or more.
  7. ^ a b Richards, Jonathan (2007-08-23). "Dear iPhone owner: your 300-page bill". The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2007-08-23. Mike Brophy, on his blog, General Theory of RIAtivity, showed a picture of a Maltese terrier sitting on his 127-page iPhone bill.
  8. ^ a b c d e Hafner, Katie (2007-08-23). "AT&T's Overstuffed iPhone Bills Annoy Customers". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-23. Ms. Ezarik, 23, made a one-minute video that shows her flipping through the voluminous bill and posted it to YouTube and other video-sharing sites on Aug. 13. The video has since been viewed more than three million times,
  9. ^ a b Quinn, Michelle (2007-08-23). "AT & T to keep iPhone bills brief". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-09-04. But the company hadn't anticipated how much iPhone users would do with their new gadget, which combines a cellphone, Web-surfing device and iPod.
  10. ^ Haskin, David (2007-10-17). "Technology's 10 Most Mortifying Moments : iPhone Bills Kill Trees". Computerworld. Retrieved 2007-11-30. The company's extraordinarily detailed billing process resulted in some users receiving bills this August that ran dozens or even hundreds of pages long, as captured in blogger Justine Ezarik's video of her unwrapping a 300-page phone bill. (It came in a box.)
  11. ^ Robinson, S. (2007). "Apple iPhone: Catalyst for Capacitive Touchscreen-Only Phones to Balloon to 115 Million Units within Two Years". Strategy Analytics.
  12. ^ MacEdonia, M. (2007). "iPhones Target the Tech Elite". Computer. 40 (6): 94–95. ISSN 0018-9162.
  13. ^ PC World Editors (2007-06-30). "The iPhone: Lots to Love, but Flaws Too". PC World. Retrieved 2007-09-17. Our conclusion: If you want to love this much-hyped gadget, you'll find plenty to go ga-ga over. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  14. ^ a b Krazit, Tom (2007-01-09). "Finally, Apple answers call for iPhone". CNET News. Retrieved 2007-09-17. In one of the most anticipated gadget announcements in recent years, Apple Computer at Macworld on Tuesday introduced the "iPhone," a mobile device that CEO Steve Jobs promised will reinvent the phone. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ a b Pogue, David (2007-06-27). "The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-22. In the last six months, Apple's iPhone has been the subject of 11,000 print articles, and it turns up about 69 million hits on Google.
  16. ^ Perenson, Melissa J. (2007-08-23). "The 300-page iPhone bill to disappear". PC World. Network World. Retrieved 2007-09-22. 'What we've had until yesterday was the detailed bill as the default option,' explains AT&T Wireless spokesman Mark Siegel.
  17. ^ Bennett, Andrea (2007-12-19). "Tips for using cell phones overseas". Travel and Leisure. CNN. Retrieved 2007-12-28. ...novel-length bills in the mail (customer Justine Ezarik posted a YouTube video of herself opening a 300-page bill that AT&T sent to her in a box). What's the problem? It turns out that the iPhone automatically checks e-mail and performs other Internet data updates, even when the phone function is off.
  18. ^ "Opinion : Phone service". Daily News & Analysis, India. Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-09-04. The new iPhone has been staggering users, first with its gizmo-good-looks, then with its functionality and now, about a month after it was launched, with its bills.
  19. ^ O'Brien, Terrence (2007-08-14). "Girl Videotapes 300-Page iPhone Bill - Switched: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Stuff for the Rest of Us". Switched. AOL. Retrieved 2007-12-28. A 300-page bill is certainly uncommon, but 50-100 pages is fairly normal for heavy texters and mobile web users.
  20. ^ "The iPhone bill that's as thick as a novel". The Times (London). News International. 2004-08-27. Retrieved 2007-12-28. 'While many of us have had smart-phones for some time, we've never seen a bill like this,' wrote Ben Kuchera on the Ars Technica website yesterday. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Missing pipe in: |first= (help)
  21. ^ a b Lyons, Kim (2007-08-16). "The blog is on". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Tribune-Review Publishing Co. Retrieved 2007-08-19. Ezarik, 23, of Carnegie, made national news yesterday with a video of her flipping through her 300-page bill from AT&T -- mailed in a box -- for her new iPhone.
  22. ^ Ragan, Steve (2007-08-17). "Thirty thousand text messages equal a forest killing 300-page phone bill". Monsters and Critics. WotR Ltd. Retrieved 2007-08-19. The box arrived last Saturday and inside it contained her first bill after she purchased Apple's iPhone.
  23. ^ a b c d Stockey, Andrew (2007-08-15). "Pittsburgh Blogger's 300-Page iPhone Bill Mailed In Box". WTAE-TV News, Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Channel. Retrieved 2007-08-19. "I have an iPhone and I had to switch to AT&T. So, that's wonderful. Well, I got my first AT&T bill, right here in a box," she says in the video.
  24. ^ Whitney, Daisy (2007-12-08). "Online Fame Easy; Ads Harder to Get". TVWeek. Retrieved 2007-12-15. …8 million views across YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo and Revver. …only 300,000 views came via Revver, where she gets paid for her work. She pocketed a mere $2,000 from her biggest Web hit, she said.
  25. ^ Glenn Beck (2007-08-16). "CNN.com - Transcripts". CNN. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  26. ^ Shepard Smith (2007-08-17). "Video: iSurprise : Blogger shocked after receiving 300-page iPhone bill". Studio B. Fox News Channel. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  27. ^ "Local iPhone Customer Gets 300-Page Phone Bill". WPXI Pittsburgh. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2007-09-04. Channel 11's Andy Gastmeyer met with Ezarik...to discuss the bill.
  28. ^ "Getting the iPhone Bill". ABC News Now: Money Matters. ABC News. Retrieved 2007-09-22. First billing cycle arrives looking more like a novel then a bill.
  29. ^ a b c Levine, Barry (2007-08-24). "AT&T Decides To Kill the iPhone Bill". CIO Today. Retrieved 2007-09-14. One blogger estimated that a 100-page bill, delivered monthly, would mean curtains for nearly 75,000 trees annually.
  30. ^ a b c Phillips, Ashley (2007-08-14). "Bulky iPhone Bills Can Top 300 Pages". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-08-19. For a heavy user like Ezarik -- she typically sends 30,000 text messages a month -- an itemized bill was incredibly long and heavy. The postage on her bill was $7.
  31. ^ a b Littlejohn, Georgina (2007-08-25). "300-page iPhone Bill". Hispanic Business News. ProQuest Information and Learning Company. One million iPhone customers across the US have filed complaints with manufacturer Apple about the size of their phone bills. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  32. ^ Brady, Jeff (2007-08-18). "Woman mocks 300-page bill-in-a-box". WFAA-TV news (Dallas/Fort Worth). Retrieved 2007-08-22. AT&T issued a statement today saying: 'Our customers have the option of receiving a bill that is detail-free. Also, we have for years encouraged our customers to switch to online billing because it is convenient, secure and environmentally friendly.' 
  33. ^ Cheng, Jacqui (2007-08-22). "AT&T says "No more 300-page iPhone bills"". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2007-08-22. Surely due to the recent flurry over massively large iPhone bills, AT&T has begun sending text messages to its iPhone users assuring them that 50, or 75, or 300+ page iPhone bills will no longer be sent to their houses (unless they want them).
  34. ^ Swett, Clint (2007-08-23). "Long iPhone bills go away". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2007-08-23. But company spokeswoman Lauren Garner said the outcry had no bearing on AT&T's decision to send billing summaries rather than the full bills.
  35. ^ McNevin, Greg (2007-08-29). "No More 300 Page Bills for iPhone Customers". Image and Data Manager, Australia. Knapp Communications. Retrieved 2007-09-04. ...the incident illustrates how the rollout of new technology can collide with old automated billing services if appropriate steps aren't taken.
  36. ^ Thilmany, Jean (2007-08-17). "iPhone: The 800-Pound Gorilla Spawns a 300-Page Bill". Destination CRM. CRM Media. Retrieved 2007-08-19. "Fear of customer-care calls is a huge driver of everything because they give someone like AT&T two whammies," Zawek says.
  37. ^ a b "300-page iPhone bill that's as thick as a novel". The Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-09-04. One million iPhone customers across the US have filed complaints with manufacturer Apple about the size of their phone bills.… AT&T Wireless, Apple's phone company partner, have been inundated with complaints from customers about the lengthy bills.
  38. ^ Blankenhorn, Dana. "The iPhone bill demonstrates need for open spectrum". ZDNet. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2007-08-19. It's the 300 page iPhone bill, in a box that cost $10 to ship, and nothing could better illustrate the need for open spectrum as we head into an election year. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  39. ^ Brenn, Max. "Massive AT&T iPhone Bills Considered Useless". eFluxMedia. Retrieved 2007-08-19. For these huge amounts of paper to be printed many trees have to be sacrificed and, according to blogger Muhammad Saleem, Apple's aim to have 10 million iPhone users by the end of 2008 would require the logging of about 74,535 trees annually.
  40. ^ Brown, Jorg (2007-08-17). "iPhone Billing and International Issues". TidBITS. Retrieved 2007-08-19. This is an idiotic waste of paper (blogger Muhammad Saleem estimated it at nearly 75,000 trees per year)...
  41. ^ "A bill in a box is a waste". Toledo Blade. 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-09-14. IN THE cyberspace age, it is absurd and environmentally wasteful for telephone companies to give customers such detailed billing statements that they arrive in thickly packed envelopes or boxes.
  42. ^ "Apple - Environment". Apple, Inc. Retrieved 2007-08-19. Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen and is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create.
  43. ^ a b "AT&T drops iPhone bills that ran hundreds of pages". CNNMoney.com. 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-09-22. Brophy's blog post asked "Has anyone on the Apple Environmental Team seen an AT&T bill?" Former Vice President Al Gore, an environmental activist, sits on the Apple board.
  44. ^ a b c Barnett, Megan (2007-08-14). "Daily Brief: Little Phone, Big Bill". Portfolio.com. Conde Nast. Retrieved 2007-08-19. At the end of the bill, if anyone actually reads that far, the phone company has an announcement to make. "The New AT&T is going green."
  45. ^ Hughes, Gina (2007-08-13). "First iPhone Bills Arriving—and They're Pretty Heavy : Gina Hughes : Yahoo! Tech". Yahoo! Tech. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2007-08-19. Apple has modified its products as it attempts to build greener computers, but I think they forgot to tell AT&T about their latest environmental efforts.
  46. ^ "Apple Sets iPhone Price at $399 for this Holiday Season" (Press release). Apple Inc. 2007-09-05. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  47. ^ Smit, Martina (2007-08-24). "iPhone bill is as thick as a novel". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-09-07. Another user remarks on the site engadget.com: 'I shred my bills when I am done with them. I am guessing a bonfire is more economical then buying an industrial sized shredder to deal with that pile of paper...'
  48. ^ Weigel, David (2007-08-16). "Hit & Run > The Feeding of the 300". Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2007-09-20. I suppose if you're a federal investigator you're hoping some criminals bought into the iFad, because you can find anything about users' usage that you want.
  49. ^ Kuchera, Ben. "iPhone bill is surprisingly Xbox HUGE (lol)". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2007-09-20. Okay, so maybe we should be happy that the pages upon pages of info in this bill aren't going to send privacy advocates into seizures... {{cite web}}: Text "2007-08-11" ignored (help)
  50. ^ Bora, Madhusmita (2007-08-16). "Business: iPhone bills land with a thump". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-19. AT&T took 42 pages to slap him with the $95 bill.
  51. ^ Kelley, Jeffrey (2007-08-16). "AT&T users, may find a big bill in the mail". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2007-08-19. Henrico County resident Steve Kimball, for instance, received a 62-page bill this week.
  52. ^ Fink, R. (2007-08-27). "The Packet Rat : Commentary: The other shoe - measured by the ton - drops with the iPhone bill". Government Computer News. 105 Media, Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-04. 'OK, how many trees did they have to kill to send out the first month's bills?' the Rat half-growled, half-cackled as he contemplated the wood-pulp brick packed with 150 pages of hard copy.

See also

Blogs

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=300-page_iPhone_bill&oldid=200902611"