It was the iPhone weekend - and I'm not about to add to all the millions of words and opinions that the technical blogs are spouting about this phone/ipod/pda. But I do want to add a postscript on the communications aspect of this phenomenon.

And let me say I AM delighted I got MY iPhone - it is an amazing machine, and I think it will do very well commercially. (By the way I've used the Treo and Blackberry extensively and they continue to be amazing machines with their own unique benefits.)

For this iPhone craze on Friday I was fortunate enough to have a friend stand in line for awhile, and then I took over and was one of the last to get one of the 8 gig models. And I've been having fun learning it ever since.

But it was no fun in line, as I was at an AT&T store. What a remarkable difference in the communication experience between the Apple stores and the AT&T stores - or so it seems from all news reports and my personal experience.

This was the chance for AT&T to ride the wave of Steve Jobs genius and the surf on the Apple tide. But they blew it. It started with the boring presentation by AT&T CEO Stan Sigman back at MacWorld Expo when Jobs announced the iPhone (what a unique missed opportunity for making a communications impact.) Then there was the customer experience at the stores, and finally on the extensive telephone trees for callers, and the many long delays for online activation. All were bad, and although I won't go into detail here - let me give one example.

At my AT&T store on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco there were about 100 in line - and those of us near the front found out they were shipped 40 phones with 8 gigs and 20 with 6 gigs. But do you think AT&T would let people know - instead we heard "Our responsibility is in the store, we can't do anything about the lines." I beg your pardon! If you're the manager of the store you MANAGE THE COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE. Like giving out numbers in line so people won't cut in (which they did, almost causing fights.) Like giving regular updates and talking to the customers in line. Like welcoming them in the store rather than acting aloof and clueless in a celebratory environment.

AT&T had a unique opportunity to take advantage of the momentum that the Steve Jobs and Apple set up - to make a corporate giant seem fast on their feet - a great asset in this highly competitive environment. They stumbled - actually tripped and fell. I think only the performance and demand of the iPhone will help them get up off the ground - and it will.