iPhone Alarm Doesn’t Work And Thousands Oversleep On Jan 1 2011
Posted: Sunday, January 02, 2011
by Jennifer Stewart
Stepping out of History
Who hasn’t wondered about how some kind of technical glitch could bring the world as we know it now to a halt? Imagine if a group of hackers put together a plan to take down all the banks - I hate banks so the anarchist in me kind of like that one - or all the traffic lights in the world. Or messed with Google or Facebook – gaaahh! What would everybody do with their time?
Well, it happened, but not in such a cataclysmic way, and it wasn’t hackers who did the dirty deed. The culprit? Apple. The problem? The iPhone’s non-recurring alarms stopped functioning for two days following midnight December 31 2010. Nobody knew about it, of course, until they were supposed to wake up for work the next day.
Oops. Thousands overslept and were late for work on January 1 2011! What a way to start the New Year, explaining to your boss “uh – my alarm didn’t work”. Fortunately, the boss’s alarm probably didn’t work either, so it all more than likely evened out without too much egg on anybody’s face and without any poor sod getting fired. Anyway, who on earth works on New Year's day? No doubt the interesting stories will emerge over the next couple of days. Frankly, it makes a change from the crime, grime, death and devastation that fills the news these days.
Actually, come to think of it, somebody does have egg on their face – considerable amounts, actually. You guessed it – Apple. I don’t normally think of Apple and Eggs together but apparently lately it’s become something less than unusual. This is just the latest of Apple’s recent blunders – all allegedly because of a bug in the iPhone’s operating system.
Apple prides itself on how easy it is to use their products, but the same bug was reported in Britain, Australia and New Zealand when clocks were turned back last year, and clearly it hasn't been fixed. It's still easy to use the alarm, mind, I'll grant them that. It just hasn't worked for a couple of days.
Well, to give Apple their due they apparently did issue a statement warning customers that the alarms wouldn’t work at the start of 2011, but they were rather quiet about it, so nobody noticed. I guess they didn’t want to advertize the glitch too much. Hmmm, somebody made a bad PR decision there.
Burying your head in the sand never seems to work very well. Now the egg on Apple’s face is gritty with sand and all the more sticky. A spokesman for the company has allegedly said that they are aware of “an issue” relating to non-repeating alarms set for January 1st and 2nd, and that the alarms will work as of January 3rd. Well, duh, everybody knows that now!
When I typed in “Apple apology for iPhone bug” into Google, I didn’t get a single result. To be fair, they may have issued an apology, and the problem is just my poor internet searching skills. Maybe they didn't, though. After all, love means never having to say you’re sorry, and we know how much Apple loves its market. Never mind, all’s well that ends well. Tomorrow, the alarms will work again, and the world will not have ground to a halt after all.
Oops. Thousands overslept and were late for work on January 1 2011! What a way to start the New Year, explaining to your boss “uh – my alarm didn’t work”. Fortunately, the boss’s alarm probably didn’t work either, so it all more than likely evened out without too much egg on anybody’s face and without any poor sod getting fired. Anyway, who on earth works on New Year's day? No doubt the interesting stories will emerge over the next couple of days. Frankly, it makes a change from the crime, grime, death and devastation that fills the news these days.
Actually, come to think of it, somebody does have egg on their face – considerable amounts, actually. You guessed it – Apple. I don’t normally think of Apple and Eggs together but apparently lately it’s become something less than unusual. This is just the latest of Apple’s recent blunders – all allegedly because of a bug in the iPhone’s operating system.
Apple prides itself on how easy it is to use their products, but the same bug was reported in Britain, Australia and New Zealand when clocks were turned back last year, and clearly it hasn't been fixed. It's still easy to use the alarm, mind, I'll grant them that. It just hasn't worked for a couple of days.
Well, to give Apple their due they apparently did issue a statement warning customers that the alarms wouldn’t work at the start of 2011, but they were rather quiet about it, so nobody noticed. I guess they didn’t want to advertize the glitch too much. Hmmm, somebody made a bad PR decision there.
Burying your head in the sand never seems to work very well. Now the egg on Apple’s face is gritty with sand and all the more sticky. A spokesman for the company has allegedly said that they are aware of “an issue” relating to non-repeating alarms set for January 1st and 2nd, and that the alarms will work as of January 3rd. Well, duh, everybody knows that now!
When I typed in “Apple apology for iPhone bug” into Google, I didn’t get a single result. To be fair, they may have issued an apology, and the problem is just my poor internet searching skills. Maybe they didn't, though. After all, love means never having to say you’re sorry, and we know how much Apple loves its market. Never mind, all’s well that ends well. Tomorrow, the alarms will work again, and the world will not have ground to a halt after all.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)I read about this last night but because it's the holidays, I haven't been using the alarm on my iPhone. I didn't realize that my oldest son who is visiting us this week was using his iPhone to wake up, and this morning he overslept!
I haven't heard of any apology from Apple, either. It seems like a simple bug to fix. The same bug occurred after we switched to daylight savings time, so obviously Apple has been aware of the problem for some time.I like your new photo - I saw all the status comments on it but my computer didn't show it until today. Very symbolic, Bruce! Glad you've given yourself a break from alarm-waking during the holidays...
I think you're right, Apple has been aware of the bug for quite a while. I'm amazed that they didn't test the iPhone in some way before putting it on the market. Maybe technology is advancing too quickly now, and the cracks are beginning to show!
Jennifer your writing is FANTASTIC. You paint a story with your wit. I really liked your line "the anarchist in me..." I am going share that with friends later this afternoon when I am out. 2011 I truly hope you get to enjoy your creative endeavors. Honesty should always be rewarded in a perfect world. This owrld is not perfect, but I like to think good energy does exist for people that share their thoughts.And this is a fabulous comment, Sid, thanks! I believe the same thing re honesty, and I love your optimism!
Hi Jennifer.
That's a good reason not to rely on alarms/technology to wake you up in the morning. Few have the luxury, though, of getting sufficient sleep that they wake up naturally. Years ago, I learned how to set my internal alarm. Don't ask me how, it was more an accident than anything else. Anyway, I wake up within ten minutes plus or minus of my desired time. Pretty slick, hunh?
I didn't really want the end of the world anyway, but it is kind of funny when you think about it ... not the end of the world, the Apple glitch. I always hated daylight savings time (we don't do that in Arizona) because I had on occasion forgotten to set the clock either forward or back. Forward was the worst because then I was late for work or school. Too bad we can't just run with the sun. :)
Enjoyed your article ... as I always do.
Hugs,
DianneVery slick, Dianne! I also think the glitch is rather funny, and as for daylight savings, we don't have it here, which I'm perfectly happy with :)
What a hoot - remember how we all feared Y2K because we thought the computers would malfunction and here we are 11 years later and oops! Thanks for the chuckle on this one Jennifer.I do remember, Marijo, it was world paranoia! And oops indeed :)
Very nice Jenn. Only you could make an iPhone sound like a long lost friend. Ought to get you some Google hits too. Best of luck!:) As for the Google hits, you're not kidding, David. My rating went from about 3,000 to 17,000 overnight! And down to 11,000 today. Alas, how fickle the market...
I know that sucks to be late over a darn phone....lol.Sounds like good material for another object-ivity series...
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