(Reuters) - Some
iPhone users in Asia and Europe complained of malfunctioning alarms on
the first working day of 2011, even after Apple reassured users that its
phones' built-in clocks will work from Monday.
Bloggers, Facebook and Twitter
users complained they missed flights or were late to arrive at work, as
the alarm built into Apple's iPhone failed to go off for a third
straight day for some users.
"My
iPhone alarm didn't work again," user sueannlove from Singapore tweeted
on the social networking site. "Time to dig out (the) old school alarm
clock."
Similar messages were sent by iPhone users in Britain, Netherlands and other European countries.
The
problem was not limited only to the iPhone, with some owners of other
Apple products, such as its iPod music players, also complaining of a
similar problem with their alarms.
"Apple
certainly needs to fix it as soon as possible, but I doubt this will
impact sales or reflect negatively on Apple itself," said Gartner
analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Apple
was not immediately available for comment in Asia and Europe, but it
said on January 2 that it was aware of the problem with non-recurring
alarms and that the iPhone's alarm will begin functioning normally again
on January 3.
Some users said their alarms worked properly on Jan 3.
"This
is not a major issue for Apple, but it is sad that they have the same
error on vital dates," said John Strand, founder and chief of Danish
telecoms consultancy Strand Consult.
The
iPhone alarm system failed to recognize changes in daylight savings
time in 2010, causing some users to sleep in an hour longer, according
to media reports.
The last time
Apple was embroiled in publicity problems was in July last year after
the launch of the iPhone 4, when reports about bad reception snowballed
and forced the company to call a news conference to address the issue,
dubbed "antennagate."
This had no
visible impact on Apple's sales as the firm sold more than 14 million
iPhones in July-September quarter, more than ever before, and is now the
world's second largest smartphone manufacturer behind Nokia.
(Editing by Lincoln Feast and Louise Heavens)
