Bug Causes iPhone Alarm to Greet New Year With Silence
By NICK BILTON January 2, 2011
Pat Kiernan, a morning anchor on NY1, the New York City cable news channel, is no stranger to alarm clock problems. That's why he usually relies on several clocks, phones and other devices to wake him in time for his early newscasts.
That redundancy paid off for Mr. Kiernan on Saturday when his primary alarm, the one built into his Apple iPhone, failed to go off because of a programming error in the phone's calendar software.
"Before I went to bed I set two iPhone alarms, and both completely failed to go off," said Mr. Kiernan, adding that he uses the iPhone as his alarm clock when he travels. "Luckily I had an Android phone with me as a third backup alarm, and it woke me up in time for my news segment."
Many people weren't as lucky as Mr. Kiernan, voicing frustration online after they overslept on the first morning of the new year.
By Sunday morning thousands more people were posting angry missives about the iPhone problem on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, noting that they had missed a breakfast meeting or were running late for work or church.
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