O2, being the leading mobile service provider in the UK, has started preparing for the iPhone debut this week. They have significantly increased work hours and the number of their customer service staff to be able to deal with the anticipated high-profile launch. They wanted to make sure that the consumers who will be purchasing the costly device would have the utmost quality of service and support available to them.

O2 will be adding 1,400 members to their staff before the launch of the iPhone on Friday, November 9, 2007. They are expecting a great demand for the hyped up phone. They will be assigning more or less 700 customer service representatives in Leeds and Glasgow and another 700 to man the other company’s chains of stores across the country.

O2 and another leading provider, Carphone Warehouse are preparing themselves for the possible mad dash of customers once the iPhone becomes available for sale by 6pm this Friday.

Carphone Warehouse predicts that they could sell up to 10,000 iPhones on the first day of sale, in spite of the £279 price, not to mention the additional £35 and £55 for the contract with O2. They have announced that they will open their stores until late in the evening to satisfy the demands of the people who want to buy them. O2, which will provide the iPhone supply to Carphone Warehouse, has already ordered approximately 200,000 units to satisfy the demand of consumers during the Christmas period.

The O2 head of the

post-pay customer service department, John McGuigan has declared that there will be 200 staff members who will be exclusively handling iPhone related calls from customers, to make sure that all activation and registration issues and concerns are attended to immediately.

He stated, “It is very important to get the customer-service experience right.” He further said that O2 will be working hand-in-hand with Apple to make sure that the customer service and support will be excellent.

McGuigan also mentioned that O2 has increased the ranks of their customer service employees so that their existing customers will not be affected or neglected because of the increased support they will be giving for the iPhone.

He said, “We want to provide a fantastic service for people buying the iPhone — that goes without saying. But we also want to make sure existing customers don’t suffer as a result of the potential increase in demand for customer support from new iPhone users.”

According to McGuigan, O2 has also turned its focus in making their online customer service as strong as possible. This is so that iPhone buyers will have the option of using the Internet for any issues, inquiries or concerns they might have. He said, “People will be tethering the device to the computer anyway.”

However, the company said that the increase in their customer service staff does not mean that customers would be having a hard time on using the iPhone. They said that this feature-rich device was very convenient and user-friendly.

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