Yikes: Apple, AT&T Run Into iPhone 3G Problems Aplenty On Launch Day

Looks like Apple screwed the pooch with the iPhone 3G launch today. Since AT&T and Apple retail stores opened at 8am, there have been widespread reports of people not being able to activate their new phone. Even worse, people who’ve upgraded their old iPhone to version 2.0 software have been unable to complete the upgrade process, leaving them with a very pretty, but very expensive, hunk of plastic. Or, in computer terms, a brick.
So what gives?

AT&T is completely blaming Apple for all of this. A spokesperson told the Associated Press that there was a glitch in the software that Apple uses to activate iPhone 3G. Our guess is that Apple’s servers simply weren’t prepared for the influx of traffic brought about by people trying to activate iPhone 3G’s and merely upgrading to version 2.0. (Maybe Apple should have released 2.0 yesterday to avoid this rush?) In any event, AT&T has completely thrown Apple under the bus.
How much you wanna bet Apple has something nasty to say about AT&T in the coming days?
There are a number of work-arounds that may work for you. If you’ve got your iPhone 3G (or 2G) at home and are trying to activate, when you get the familiar error message in iTunes, just let it sit there. That’s right. Just step away from the computer, leaving your iPhone connected and iTunes open. It seems quite a few people have gotten their iPhone to activate or upgrade by letting it hang out for 10-15 minutes. That’s what AT&T is telling people to do now.
Bottom line: hang in there. Everything will be back to normal soon enough.
Software problems bug Apple’s launch of new iPhone [AP/Breitbart]