I know, I know... You'd probably chanting about it as you're reading this post: "Not another iPhone 3G launch news..."
It's been two weeks full of iPhone 3G news, mostly are about the waiting lines and now it's the mayhem of iPhone 3G activations.
Engadget was first to report that the insane demand for the iPhone 3G has taken its toll on Apple's iTunes activation servers. And Apple has confirmed to us that activation is down, and that customers are being asked to take the phone home and activate via iTunes later. Then those who were updating their first-gen iPhone to 2.0 are also getting caught in the activation shuffle, leaving some with bricked iPhones.
At the UK, local Macworld is reporting that customers at the world's largest Apple Store in London were told that it would take at least three hours to buy an iPhone, and anyway the store was closed for new business as the company couldn't be sure that it would be able to serve the numbers already snaked round the store. "The O2 system just keeps turning on and off," explained one Apple Store staffer.
The blue T-shirts the Apple crew blamed the closure on U.K. iPhone carrier O2's faulty registration system, as entry to store browsers was forbidden and no more customers were allowed to join the queue to purchase the new iPhone 3G.
So by only at 3PM in the afternoon, London police officers came to the Apple Store to step in & secure the store just in case a riot ever to happen. I can't imagine how angry the customers, who have lined up for days to find out that they can't buy and activate iPhone 3G.
* Special thanks to TmyZ for the lovely picture above
[blogged with my Treo 750v]