Many people around the world used their iPhone to send text messages wishing friends and family a happy new year, but they may not have awakened for work the next day. Not because they had too much fun the night before, but because their iPhone was plagued with a glitch that caused the built-in alarm to fail.
Like most smartphones, the iPhone comes equipped with an alarm clock that can be automatically set to go off at the same time every day, or be programmed at will to go off at specified times. It’s a convenient tool for many people — until it doesn’t work. That’s what happened when people set their alarm for a one-time wake-up call, Apple has confirmed.
When High Tech Fails
The glitch impacts iPhones using the latest Apple mobile operating system, iOS 4.0. Apple has yet to offer any information about the root of the alarm-clock problem, but it still wasn’t working Monday morning. The fallout has been tremendous, with people complaining of being late for church, work and other appointments because the iPhone let them down.
Reports on the web suggested a quick fix by deleting the alarms and creating new ones.
“This shows how people have become very dependent on their smartphones and associated software to help them manage their lives,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “It also reflects the high expectations people have of Apple products that they get so upset when the stuff doesn’t work as advertised, which is generally rare.”
Not the First Time
Indeed, some iPhone users took the failing alarm as an occasion to complain about everything they don’t like about Apple in the Apple support forum. One user who calls himself rcltrh wrote, “Thanks Apple for another outstanding ‘feature’ to go along with constantly losing ALL contacts, shrinking the screen…