iPhone Alarm Glitch Doesn’t Bug Apple’s PR Team

For three days in a row the tech media around the world buzzed incessantly about an Apple app issue that caused numerous iPhone alarm clocks to stay silent this weekend. And despite Apple promising that the glitch would be fixed today, reports of malfunctioning continue, as users complain that the alarm failure caused late arrivals at work, and other problems.

There’s no end to the ridicule the media could heap upon Apple’s failure to fix a glitch with apparently easy fixes. But there’s no end to the ridicule people could heap upon the media for writing about an issue of minor significance. “Stop the presses, a friggin’ cell phone clock stopped working!” – sarcastically exclaims John C. Dvorak, who believes that people should depend on smartphones as alarm clocks.

And you should also read Andy Borowitz’s satire, that tells a story of a canceled press conference, when company chief Steve Jobs failed to show. The witty comedian gave a lucrative solution for those users who are still facing problems: “For the time being, tape your iPhone to a working alarm clock.”

Sarcasm and satire aside, Apple’s image is a bit ruffled in the process – as the “minor problem” with iPhone’s alarm glitch still holds the headlines for the third day in a row. And while Apple assured users that the glitch would be over January 3rd, the problem persists for many:

“We’re aware of an issue related to non-repeating alarms set for Jan. 1 or 2,” Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison told Reuters in an e-mail. “Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning Jan. 3.”

Obviously, for Apple this is not a major issue. The iPhone had its shares of negative publicity in the past as well, specifically last July, when many users reported bad reception problems. This, however, hasn’t affected sales, Apple reporting over 14 million iPhones sold in the quarter ending last September. While for many companies such an issue would require immediate response, Apple’s PR team enjoys sleeping late.