iPhone 3G launching 00:01 NZ time, home delivered in the UK

Vodafone just went public with the information you already knew, New Zealand will see the world's first iPhone launch at 00:01 local time on the 11th. That's almost a full day before any New York, propaganda farmer gets his. In the UK, O2 is now taking pre-orders (one per customer) on a first come, first serve basis. Better yet, your new slab of 3G will be delivered to your home on the 11th of July by courier where you can activate it from the digital comforts of iTunes. So civilized.

Update: According to a handful of tipsters, O2 sold out of the 16GB version of the iPhone in about three hours. Here's hoping you made the cut.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read -- O2 UK
Read -- Vodafone NZ

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:17AM]

I click checkout and page fails to load.
Good to see everyone has bulked up their servers for these busy days

[obsceneace Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:15AM]

Good luck trying to get one! I am still trying to upgrade, i am now on my 15th attempt, what a joke.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:30AM]

Just got mine from Carphoen Warehouse website! - WOOT! :-)

[n230099 Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:06AM]

Like gas, somebody, somewhere, is saying; "see, I told you they'd pay". Who lets someone play them like a marionette?

[shaundon Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:07AM]

engadget, can you try and find out if they have any plans to sell the white one at all? Because I want it but if they aren't selling white then I'll place my order right now

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:45AM]

According to the rep from O2, the white ones are only availble direct from Apple. I'd ring ahead tho before you wander down to one of their stores cos I'd be surprised if the rep knew what he was talking about.

BTW as of 12:33 I still can't get one!! 4hrs I've been trying! My mate's managed to get his which makes this even more frustrating.

[KarlW Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:16AM]

Anyone managed to upgrade their existing iPhone yet? I keep getting the upgrade codes texted to me (got 4 now), but there's nowhere to input it!

Using Safari 4 Preview, on OSX 10.5.4.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:28AM]

does this mean there wll be non on sale on friday at the store??

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:28AM]

placed an order online at carphone warehouse... lets see if they ever deliver...

[WAldenIV Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:35AM]

I'm pretty sure this isn't the world's first iPhone launch.

First 3G launch, perhaps?

[EdwardD Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:38AM]

Well, after a quite an effort, it seems I have ordered an iPhone 16gb from Carphone Warehouse... only catch is i accidently ordered 4 at a grand total of £516! Which seems a bit weird since there's a limit of 1 per customer, but i've rang up and they said it would all be sorted.
I was a little confused by the availability of the phone, and i'm still not sure if i'll get my iPhone on release day or any time soom to be honest! I'm hoping they'll email me sometime soon with a few more details, because at the moment i know very little.
I would have preferred to have ordered it off the o2 website, but the 16gb model sold out pretty quick, their website seemed a lot more informative. I didn't want to chance it for Friday and go to the store, because i'm really not the type to go queue up the day before.
But whatever, as long as i get my ONE iPhone 3G 16gb in the next week i'll be happy.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:45AM]

Just looked on o2 website. can anyone confirm.
With the old activation methods it was activate at home but now they say its activate at store. BUT if you go to the iphone overview page on o2 and go to activate this shows up:

Once you've got your new iPhone 3G, you'll need to connect to the latest version of iTunes to activate it.

Before activating

1. Check your voicemail
Before you activate your iPhone 3G, make sure you listen to your current voicemails. If you're an existing O2 customer, activation will delete your existing voicemails. If you're transferring an existing number from another network operator, existing voicemails will not be transferred.

2. Transfer your contacts, music and photos
Before you activate, migrate your existing mobile contacts into Outlook, Outlook Express on the PC, or Address Book or Entourage on the Mac.

More information on transferring your stuff

To activate your iPhone 3G
Insert the SIM card into your iPhone 3G. (Upgrading Pay Monthly and existing iPhone customers should use your existing SIM card.)
Download and install the latest version of iTunes.
Connect iPhone to a USB 2.0 port on your Mac or PC (not on the keyboard) using the included cable. iTunes opens automatically.
Follow the onscreen instructions in iTunes to activate iPhone 3G and sync your contacts, calendars, music, photos, podcasts, videos, email accounts, and web bookmarks.
If you're new to O2 and transferring your existing number, contact us with you PAC code if you've not done so already.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:52AM]

Can anyone confirm what this means? im confused.

Once you've got your new iPhone 3G, you'll need to connect to the latest version of iTunes to activate it.

Before activating

1. Check your voicemail
Before you activate your iPhone 3G, make sure you listen to your current voicemails. If you're an existing O2 customer, activation will delete your existing voicemails. If you're transferring an existing number from another network operator, existing voicemails will not be transferred.

2. Transfer your contacts, music and photos
Before you activate, migrate your existing mobile contacts into Outlook, Outlook Express on the PC, or Address Book or Entourage on the Mac.

More information on transferring your stuff

To activate your iPhone 3G
Insert the SIM card into your iPhone 3G. (Upgrading Pay Monthly and existing iPhone customers should use your existing SIM card.)
Download and install the latest version of iTunes.
Connect iPhone to a USB 2.0 port on your Mac or PC (not on the keyboard) using the included cable. iTunes opens automatically.
Follow the onscreen instructions in iTunes to activate iPhone 3G and sync your contacts, calendars, music, photos, podcasts, videos, email accounts, and web bookmarks.
If you're new to O2 and transferring your existing number, contact us with you PAC code if you've not done so already.


Help with activating your iPhone 3G

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 7:55AM]

*Sob* I want an iPhone, but I line in CANADA! You suck, Rogers! Give me unlimited data or give me death! (OK, but not seriously, cuz like, you guys would go through with the killing. So uh, don't. Just trying to prove a point.) Jerks.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:49AM]

NZ...we usually get a look at things before everyone else...vista, iphone..

who wants tto fly here and be the first in line?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:04AM]

o2 website is useless, doesnt work at all. Have been trying for over an hour. Sod it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:10AM]

3G...yawn...Want it pretty bad, but tired of the over-hype...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:33AM]

I think its a scam for people trying to upgrade with o2, bet theyre giving prioity to new customers to make themselves more money.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:22AM]

It does feel like that. I've been trying since I got the text this morning at 7:45 to upgrade to an iphone and the site has either been down or booted me off at some stage in the process. The furthest I've got is selecting the 16GB phone, certainly nowhere near checkout.

And yet the page to just buy a iphone for new customers seemed to be working fine this morning.

SOOO frustrating - my inbox is filling up with upgrade codes...

[diamonddogs Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:21AM]

No sign of a PAYG iPhone release date, apparently "later this year" according to O2. Are they having to change things so it works well on a pay as you go tariff?

[tumnasgt Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:24AM]

Wow Vodafone NZ are selling it cheap, we almost never get good purchase pricing on phones, I'm betting the contract price is going to be a killer though.

On a side note, Optus in Australia is offering to unlock it for $80AU over the purchase price ($729AU for the 8GB, $849AU for the 16GB)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:28AM]

FEKKED OFF.

Been trying to use the webste since 10.30.
I've had 12 text mesages with codes to use on the website and going through the pages keep sending me back to page where you fill in your details and then click 'send'

No excuse on anticipating demond from last years iphone release !

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:42AM]

Got 30 upgrade codes so far! Got as far as inputting my delivery address and the page timed out!

Frustrating aint the word!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 8:45AM]

Just had this through for an 8GB Iphone ordered on the O2 website. Hopefully this means mine will be here on friday but we shall see!!

------------------------------

Dear Mr G******* *************,

Re: Order Number on-************

We just want to keep you updated on the progress of your order. Your order has now been passed to our warehouse for processing and we'll let you know shortly if it's been confirmed and when you can expect to receive it.

You can easily track the progress of your order online by visiting www.o2.co.uk/trackyourorder

Thank you for choosing O2. We look forward to welcoming you as a customer.

Regards,

O2

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:07AM]

they have to be the worse wallpapers ever

[oellph Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:09AM]

O2's site now says that 'Due to high demand we are now out of stock online. Please check back on 10th July for more information".

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:29AM]

O2 online is now totally out of stock of both. We have to check again the 10th July.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:43AM]

Anyone moving from Orange to 02 needs to provide PAC code at the point of sale, not available for transfer in the future! ( This is from the Carphone Warehouse site )

[DiGiC Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:46AM]

I just ordered mine through Carphonewarehouse.co.uk and got this email...

"Dear Customer,

Thank you for ordering with www.carphonewarehouse.com.

Unfortunately, the item you ordered is temporarily out of stock. We do make every effort to ensure that only items that are in stock appear on the website, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."

Mother loving gutted! Why did I have to wake up at 2pm?!?!?! :(

[tomjol Posted Jul 7th 2008 9:59AM]

Ring CPW. It's possible that it's normal (as they don't actually HAVE the stock yet), there are a fair few people reporting that they've received that email but on contacting CPW had their order confirmed for Friday.

[DiGiC Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:29AM]

Cheers, I'll get on the case now :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:31AM]

*sigh* i woke up at 3:20pm, probs not a good idea to play css till 5am :P I've got no chance now i'm guessin'.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:28AM]

just tried, you can still pre-order 16Gb version at Carphonewarehouse, but they also only have the black models...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:39AM]

O2 have changed the status for pay and go too, now showing "Available later this year" rather than "Check back soon".

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:55AM]

"later this year" for the Pay & Go 3G iphone?!!!! What?!!!!! I've been waiting for the Pay & Go one ever since I heard about it!

I don't want to be stuck in an 18 month contract! Was planning to get the i phone on Pay & Go - then sign up for a simplicity plan with an free Unlimited web bolt on!

NOT HAPPY!

[toph101 Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:49AM]

I seriously advise against buying anything from the carphone warehouse. They miss-sell and lie. They set up a direct debit to the geek squad service without telling me, under the guise of a free gift (that I didn't want). They are also extremely pushy with their phone insurance.

They lied to me stating that the cancellation policy for the USB dongle I had bought was down to O2 when in fact it was the carphone warehouse's policy.

It took me weeks to cancel a contract that was miss-sold to me (by a team leader). They protect their sales staff and don't look out for customers. They did nothing when I logged complaints to their head office. In the end I made a complaint through O2 who were appealed at how I had been treated and cancelled the contract for me.

I know this is an off topic rant and there are probably lots of decent people working at CPW too. So I apologuise. But definitely keep away from the Sheffield branch at least.

Toph.

[toph101 Posted Jul 7th 2008 10:52AM]

*Appalled not appealed! lol

[ma10 Posted Jul 7th 2008 11:34AM]

O2 website has stopped taking online orders for any of the 3G iPhones now...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 11:43AM]

Just got off the phone with my local O2 store, O2 and CPW online are both sold out completely and will be until after Friday, he says the only hope i have now is queuing at 7:02am on Friday morning, why did i have to wake up at noon!?

[GhettoBanjo Posted Jul 7th 2008 11:54AM]

Is it Brett or Britt?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 12:28PM]

I got 16gb iphone about 4pm from carphone warehouse website, they followed up with an email saying it was out of stock......I called to cancel but the guy assured me it would be available for me to collect on Friday at the store as i had requested. Just a glitch with the ordering system.......i hope so!

[jammyface Posted Jul 7th 2008 2:10PM]

Sold out completely of all iphone 3G's none at all left.

says come back thursday 10th for more info.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 6:35PM]

Don't bother buying it in NZ - officially one of the world's most outrageously expensive iPhone providers!

http://stuart.amanzi.co.nz/2008/07/08/vodafone-have-well-and-truly-screwed-iphone-customers/

[monstermac77 Posted Jul 8th 2008 2:25AM]

I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ELSE TO COMMENT BUT IT IS EXACTLY 2:23 AM EST (NEW YORK) AND US APPLE SITES ARE DOWN!!! WHAT COULD THEY BE ADDING?????

Please respond if anyone sees this!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 8th 2008 5:49AM]

Hi all,

To get iphone user manual - visit www.lostmymanual.org