IPhone 6 sets records, but problems quickly emerge

Tony Zhan, 32, holds up his new iPhone 6 Plus after it went on sale at the Apple store in Pasadena, California September 19, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Glitches in iOS 8.0.1 operating system bring frustrations to consumers, reports Bloomberg.

Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook called the introduction of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus over the weekend the "best launch ever." He may have spoken too soon.

Just three days after announcing that Apple had sold a record 10 million new iPhones over the opening weekend, Cook was faced with multiple snafus related to the bigger-screen handsets. The company pulled a new mobile-software update, dubbed iOS 8.0.1, after the program caused some people to lose cellular service. It promised a fix soon.

Scores of consumers also took to social media to criticize the 6 Plus and how it can bend under sufficient pressure.

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The stumbles blemished what had been a carefully choreographed product unveiling that was meant to put Cook's stamp on Apple. Executives at the California-based company had for months teased the introduction of the new iPhones before finally debuting them on Sept 9.

The devices had spurred a frenzy of demand, with pre-orders topping 4 million, plus the record weekend sales and a thriving gray market for the smartphones in China and elsewhere.

Now, Cook's rollout of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is marred, recalling incidents that the CEO has faced with other product debuts. Last year, Cook apologized for the iPhone's warranty and repair policies in China after receiving criticism from the media over customer service in the market. In 2012, Cook also said he was sorry for Apple's malfunctioning mapping software, which was faulted for misguided directions and inaccurate landmark locations.

"I just wish that Tim Cook had a better handle on things," said Jason Nochimson, 34, an iPhone 6 owner who spent more than two hours on Apple's customer support line after downloading the software upgrade on Wednesday and finding it stopped his cellular service. "I was worried that my daughter's school was going to call me and I wasn't going to be able to get them."

Apple said in an e-mailed statement that it has devised a workaround for iPhone 6 users who lost voice service or other features. Users can reinstall the previous version of iOS to restore past functionality and Apple plans to release a new version of the operating system, iOS 8.0.2, in the next few days.

"We apologize for the great inconvenience experienced by users," Apple said in the statement.

The new iPhones are crucial to Apple. The devices generate more than half of the company's annual $171 billion in revenue and precede a swath of other products, including new iPads, an Apple Watch and a mobile-payments system called Apple Pay.

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