US iPhone 3G Activation Problems Due To Overloaded Servers, DHL Loses iPhone 3G In UK

I was really excited to get my iPhone 3G on Friday, but my activation process was a nightmare and left me in suspense for several hours while I waited to get through. And by no means was I the only one. People across the US had the same problem. Similarly, things were less than perfect in the UK.

CIO.com interviewed AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel about what exactly was the problem. He says that the massive activation server outage was caused by the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that were all trying to activate their iPhone 3G at the same time. "The iTunes software appeared to have been so overwhelmed by demand [Friday] that customers were not able to go through that final stage and sync their iPhones," Siegel said. Apple has yet to comment.

Despite this, Apple's ability to meet demand for the device (at least initially) was exemplary.

"You can look at that and say, 'Shame on them for not thinking this through,'" O'Marah says. "But a fairer observation is: Good job to Apple for mastering the physical supply chain so well that you have this high-profile launch and your problems are not on the physical side—you have product in stock. So, you've done it. And yet what you're doing is so successful in putting this product out there, that the pressure ends up falling back on the content side of the business. Which is kind of amazing."

Unfortunately, things in the UK didn't fair quite as well. O2 managed to sell out of the device before it even launched when they allowed customers to pre-order them. This may have been understandable were it not for DHL, the delivery company they had hired to deliver the devices to the homes of those who ordered the device. ElectricPig recounts how they managed to lose their iPhone 3G in the mail, and wouldn't receive it until later the next week.