Not everyone was happy about Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T for the iPhone, the company not being regarded very well by many potential iPhone customers. Despite being given the benefit of the bout, it looks like AT&T is really messing things up on the iPhone deal by poorly handling the customer experience.

The first sign of trouble was the activation issues reported by users during the first weekend of iPhone sales. At the time, the number of people experiencing issues was said to be small, but after looking at the number of activations during the first two days of sales and the actual number of devices sold, it would seem that the issues were widespread.
Soon afterwards the crash of the data network came, which although a serious issue, was fixed relatively quickly. Since then there have not been any other bumps in the road, but it looks like AT&T has now strayed off the track again.

Reports are beginning to surface all over the Internet about the way AT&T stores are handling the iPhone. Many potential customers are reporting that AT&T stores won't let them try out the devices before buying and there are even some cases where the store simply refuses to even show the device to potential customers. Just as alarming, it would seem that quite a number of AT&T salespeople are actually trying to steer potential customers away from the iPhone towards other devices.

While no official comment has been made, unconfirmed rumors attribute this cold shoulder to the fact that the iPhone activation is handled through iTunes and thus there is no commission for selling the device.

In contrast, all Apple Stores have a number of dedicated iPhones that are always on display for customers to interact with.