iPhone launch-o-mess-o-rama

As you know, the Macalope's not galloping out this morning to get an iPhone 3G. Particularly since he feels like he just got a new iPhone yesterday with the 2.0 software update.

And it seems that might not be a bad idea all around. Taking a look on the Twitter, MacUser's Dan Pourhadi says AT&T's in-store activation system isn't working and they're telling people to activate at home (that won't get you a phone you can unlock, though, unless you want to pay $600 for it -- failure to activate).

Meanwhile, MacVoices' Chuck Joiner says the AT&T store he's at is out of black 16 GB models. Oh, you can order one and it'll get there in 7 days. But if a truck pulls up to the back of the store with more later in the afternoon, you still have to wait for yours to arrive next week. The Macalope's seen that model lots of places, but it never gets any less annoying.

As with the last launch, AT&T stores are going to be far easier to get into than Apple Stores. Unless you're looking for a 3-hour meetup with your Apple-loving brethren, get thee to an AT&T store.

Or wait until this afternoon. Or tomorrow.

Reports to the contrary notwithstanding, waiting a few hours for one isn't going to kill you. Really. Well, at least there's not direct proof that it will kill you.

UPDATE: Also, the horny one is seeing reports that the iPhone 2.0 update is now available through iTunes, but it's effectively bricking peoples' iPhone since the Store is down. The update gets installed, but the phone can't reactivate. Probably want to wait on that one, too.

[Mystigo]

I just got back from the Mall of Georgia. I waited 30 minutes in a line of 200 or so. Not one solitary person managed to buy a phone the entire time. An Apple store rep eventually came out with a glum look on her face and said that they "are having technical difficulties". I had to get back to work.

[johnwbaxter--2008]

Well, for me, getting to the iTunes store to finish the update just too persistence: every time I got the error message, I clicked the store then the phone again in iTunes. Eventually, that worked.

Less than ideal.

[apple4ever]

That's what you get for going for an in-store activation over a complete at-home activation. It won't stop unlockers (which have already cracked 2.0), but it will harm customers. Just like any DRM, it doesn't stop those who want to do anything they want with their device, but it does harm those who just want to use their device.

[BoardJIVE]

Well, I stood in line at 6am at the local AT&T store for the 8am opening and was in about 30 minutes after that. The AT&T systems were so overwhelmed that it took them almost an hour to get the phone added to an existing AT&T family plan we have. In store activation was non-existent. They said to take it home, plug it into iTunes and activate. Three hours later, I still get -4 unknown errors from iTunes trying to activate my brink.. errr.. iPhone. You would think Apple would learn from the last fiasco!

I waited for the 3G to get an iPhone and so far, it looks pretty on the desk and that's about it. I called my AT&T store and they say the problem is global. I think it's a combination of AT&T and Apple's system being overwhelmed. Better IT planning would have avoided this in both camps.

[texasags]

It bricked my buddy's old iPhone when he tried to update to 2.0 software. Mine worked at just after 7 AM, but it was very slow.

[thebaldmonster]

I tried to update today too. All went flawlessly untill the activation. Wha Wha Wha no dice. I hear the server is overloaded. Oh well it will be fixed later. I have a work phone.

the fail whale is out in force in England also - Apple store in London has been broken all day, very few phones going out the door due to massive system failure @ O2 allegedly

[charlieevett]

This is one of the worst screw ups in Apple history.

It is simply not acceptable to have your phone bricked just because you updated to the latest software. Apple should have turned off the system update when the trouble hit instead of letting traffic pile up.

I have a trip to make this afternoon, so I have many long hours on the road, now suddenly without a phone or an iPod.

[ryanpmack]

Sorry about the problems, but in general, it's probably not a good idea to install a huge operating system update the day of a massive product launch or more importantly the day before you leave on a trip.

Not saying Apple & AT&T aren't responsible, but you as a user have some responsibility as well.

Apple shutting off the updates or sending them out in a tiered or progressive rollout, as you suggested, would have been a good idea. Hopefully they consider that next time. I'm sure they're just as overwhelmed and upset at about today's event as everyone else is.

I know the promise of apps is too exciting and there was massive pent up demand from current iPhone users who were likely waiting to go 3G til they played with 2.0 software first (I myself installed 2.0 software yesterday via leaked firmware)

The situation today really isn't all that different from last year's launch, except for you have all these people with 1G iPhone's

Everything just seems worse today because people are looking back to last year through the reality distortion field we were all under at just having the phones. I think that combined with the echochamber of twitter make it SEEM worse. Check this out for a little reminder that people were still not activated a day later (and some were stuck for a couple days) http://xrl.us/kkozq fo

Your phone's aren't dead people, they'll come back to life as soon as Apple gets servers back up from MASSIVE worldwide demand.

I think it's also important to remember that Apple hasn't ever done this large of a international product launch that involved activation. Last year the iPhone was launched only in the US and supplies were relatively limited. Today we have stores in Tokyo with 1,500 handsets selling out and people just continuing to wait in-line until tomorrow in hopes of getting a handset.

Namaste.

[ripragged]

The iPhone 3G hysteria is upon us and it's a scary thing.

Phonesaber is teh application.

[ReapWhatUSew]

My phone is completely dead after trying to upgrade Very frustrating but there is a part in me that is snickering at pay back for the greed of the folks at apple. How SMUG would they be if this had happened to the folks over at MICROSOFT....I guess the PC finally gets one up on the MAC GUY! I wonder if they will make a commerical? I think I'm over APPLE! =D

[baxtrice]

No offense dude, but if you're phone was dead, you wouldn't be snickering at the greed of Apple or their smug. You'd be mad at Apple for bricking it. I smell a troll.

[GruffPelt]

It would be helpful to know WHERE these issues are occurring. This morning I was at 2 AT&T stores and an Apple store in the Denver suburbs, and another AT&T store in Colorado Springs, and none of them had any issues other than limited quantity. The AT&T store all ran out after an hour or so (40-60 sold per store), and the Apple store ran out after about 2 hours (a bit more than 200 sold).

[ripragged]

This reminds me of the awful bug-ridden mess that was Leopard (10.5.0). I never had an ounce of problems with it. Same with iPhone 2.0. Plugged it in. Turned it on. It works.

Weird.

[baxtrice]

stop bragging. Lucky b*stard.

:) (I mean that with all love and friendship, but my iPhone and iTunes is refusing to cooperate, erego, I'm mad as heck!)

[baxtrice]

my iTunes won't even admit that there's even an update available for my iPhone v.1. Every time I click the update button I get a message that says my iPhone software (1.1.4) is up to date. (and yes, my iTunes is updated at 7.7 before someone asks)

Also, the automatic check for an update date changed, it did say the 14th this morning when I tried to download the version 2.0, this afternoon it had changed to the 18th.

Bad form Apple. *THWACK*

[greatsax]

Stuck in line just in view of the entrance at the Galleria I was able to watch everything seem to come to screeching halt. AT&T servers or iTunes activation problems? Had to roll with it. After all, it was still like waiting in line for Santa to give you the most wanted present of the year!

[ripragged]

It took all day for the servers to admit 1.1.4 wasn't the current version for all our phones, but everybody here (3) got their iPhones updated. Nobody got bricked at my house. I'm a little weird in that I set aside the whole day for iPhone upgrades. It's a nice luxury to have. The problem seems to stem from Apple's inability to anticipate the enormity of the worldwide demand for iPhone 2.0. That is a nice problem to have.

[J.G.]

I hope those commentators who had legitimate problems got them solved. My own experience activating in-store was a summer breeze. I just added the iPhone 3G to my 2G iPhone account and had my original device deactivated. Kept the same phone number. However, I did wait three hours to enter the Apple Store.

[Januss331]

Anyone ever stop and think, wait a minute, they could have planned for this (they did) but simply couldn't meet the demand? Look at all the major companies that put out a product that has a high demand, there are ALWAYS problems. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the Wii is still a pain to get ahold of, the PS3 was hard to get at first and ditto for the XBox 360. Sure they could've planned better or could've turned off the server but hey, it's the release of a highly anticipated product. That generally spells problems. It's unfortunate that a good amount of phones have bricked, but I highly doubt that the bricked phones outweigh the people for whom the update, and new 3G, works well.

[ripragged]

Oddly, the launch-o-mess-o-rama seems to have died down some.

The coolest thing on iPhone 2.0 (running on my original 16 Gb iPhone) is the new way to edit mail. Tres sweet.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't sell 1,000,000 BlackBerries in 3 days.