iTunes activation servers go down, iPhone 3G customers being sent home unactivated, first-gen iPhone customers stuck with dead iPhones
By Nilay Patel 
posted July 11th 2008 2:40PM
posted July 11th 2008 2:40PM
Update: 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. We're not sure what good that'll do, since the servers are down no matter where you are, but Apple says it's "working on a solution." In the meantime, it looks like the new SIM works in first-gen units, so at least upgraders aren't totally phone-deprived. Oh, and remember that updating a first-gen iPhone to 2.0 requires hitting the server as well, so if you haven't taken the plunge we'd say hold off until this all gets sorted.
Update 2: In related news, those updating their first-gen iPhone to 2.0 are also getting caught in the activation shuffle, leaving some with bricked iPhones. In our test case, the activation servers came back up after about 45 minutes just long enough to get 2.0 running on our first-gen iPhone, but not all have been so lucky. Is your first-gen iPhone stuck in activation limbo from the update? Let us know.
APPLE = FAIL !
iFail
Yep definitely ill-prepared.. but on a positive note.. the chick in the picture is quite attractive.. (on the left).
Agreed
she's teh hawt!
looks like brains and beauty have been kept separate yet again though.
"whats she typing?"
@flashpoint: Read the freaking review. He mentions both the dock incompatibility and the non-replaceable battery.
Trolling is one thing, bashing the editor of a site on HIS OWN SITE is just stupid. Why are you here if you despise the content so much?
@Webster--yeah, she's looking vulnerable... And, like, fifteen!
I KNEW that I should have waited a day or 2 update my 1st-gen iPhone!!!
DAMMIT APPLE!!!!!!!
Is that Denise Richards on the left?
I was thinking it was Billie Piper. I'm not a Doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but if she's interested I could use a companion.
Ouch...some harsh comments. I think expectations were too high. Still, they'll fix the bugs soon enough. You should always wait a bit before buying. As some analysts have been saying, http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2008/07/apple-3g-iphone-update-and-analyst.html, global sales are booming so Apple != fail (ie apple will not fail!)
My iphone 3G is with me right now, and now I have a service-less phone. The idiot dude at the counter (I'm at that same store pictured) said to activate with the MBP in my arm. Wait to go Apple, AT&T and Co.
This hardware equivalent of Windows Product Activation is getting on my nerves.
I'd just love the day they crack this shit. Just like the joy one gets of applying a WGA crack on a genuine Windows.
What are you people complaining about? You have the sleekest, most stylish, non-functioning, good-only-if-you-have-a-stack-of-papers-near-a-open-window-on-a-breezy-day, multimedia, babe-magnet, mobile communications device EVAR! Who cares if it doesn't work? What ungrateful proles you are! Lord Jobs should confiscate your phones if you're going to speak heresy about it.
Whoops! Gotta run. Call coming in on my 3-1/2 year old, busted-up T-Mobile Samsung flip phone. kthxbai!
Damn am I glad Verizon told Jobbs to go F*@% himself when he approached Verizon first...
another...iDud
You're right, this fiasco could never happen in the WinMo world of handsets since there's such low demand. Five or ten purchasers around the world would never bring down a server.
This only happens when a company's product has high enough demand to sell a million handsets in one day. That's the curse of being too successful.
Their servers have been down all day, yet they keep the link on Apple.com to update to 2.0. This makes no sense. They're driving traffic to servers that are down! Pull the link from apple.com till everything is up again.
Yeah foxy chick on the left looks like Denise Richards...hawt!
anyone having problems with the me.com web services too? slow as hell and various pages won't load up at all.
Big time iFail... I was 1/2 way through updating my 1st generation iPhone and then the servers went down... now I have a 1st generation iBRICK!
i can't help but chuckle a little bit inside. I mean, hasn't everyone always said dont buy the first gen of ANYTHING. moreover...dont wait in line for that first gen of anything, unless ur just going to sell it on ebay.
iBrick
Total awesomeness. I got my iphone 3G activated by plugging in my iphone to my MBP, and leaving it for 10-15 minutes ( Hafta ignore that error mssg.)
Apple - it just works.
Girl on the right is cuter.
Funny how it's "no big deal, Apple will fix it with updates" when that is exactly what Microsoft does... Why do you give Microsoft so much crap when Apple is doing this same thing and it's "no big deal" for you? Give me a break fanboys...
Apple failed with this today. I'm stuck without a phone right now, as is thousands of people.
...without a phone right now, as *are thousands of people.
Rank as you must...
As am I, very sad. At least my old one still works.
So am i..Got my phone at about 8:15 or 8:30 CT..Got home, and now nothing works..BullShit...
Me too, but I count that as a bonus. It means I can get some sleep without work bothering me, and I have an excuse with plenty of proof.
At least you got one. A lot of us waited and got a piece of paper.
And let's put it in perspective, for almost everyone, this is a replacement phone... it's really not a huge deal if you can't use it for an extra day. You coped just fine before.
Yeah I started updating right before Engadget posted this about the servers or I would have waited. Now I'm stuck without a phone and I have to leave to go out of town the rest of the weekend to go to a wedding and now I'll be without a stupid phone.
yup, me too. trying to upgrade 1st gn to 2.0 = dead phone :-(
Apple 3G launch = EPIC FAIL...
As much crap as people give Microsoft over software activation, at least my GSM WinMo phone doesn't have to phone home to its MANUFACTURER to work. Pop SIM in new phone and presto, "It just works...."
I woke up this morning, plugged in my iPhone and got the 2.0 update. When it finished downloading and installing, iTunes told me "Make sure **your** network settings are correct and **your** network connection is active"
So apple has a problem with their servers, and they blame it on my internet connection. I know it is a canned message, but still. But even more of a problem is this is **still** on the servers. Apple, quit bricking people's phones and pull the update from the servers!
I updated to the new version of iTunes last night. Then, this morning around 7:30am (eastern time), I checked for an iPhone firmware update (i.e. 2.0) for my 1st-gen iPhone, and it said it was ready. TWO HOURS LATER, it was finished updating my 1st-gen iPhone. But around that same time, the server must have gone down, because within iTunes, it wouldn't let me view the settings of my iPhone (e.g. to choose which music playlists I want synced). Weird. There must have been some final final step, and the servers must have crashed right before. But I seem to have iPhone 2.0 firmware and it seems to work fine.
I'm just happy I didn't brick my phone. Ridiculous. If they didn't have the bandwidth to handle this, they shouldn't have allowed iTunes to update everyone's firmware at the same time. I was playing by the rules, waiting for iTunes to allow me to upgrade the firmware.
This is bad.
Yep, that'll teach Apple for relying on Windows Server...
What makes you think Apple is running Windows Server?
Ironically ATT is running Windows Server, and they are not only able to process all the iPhone requests, but all other non-iPhone activations around the world for ATT phones being sold today without issue, yet somehow Apple is the one with the issues on the iTunes portion...
Hmm...
Everyone in the Salt Lake has been turned away to activate their phones at home. And iTunes is STILL down... Any word on when it'll be up?!?
When there were rumors of an early 2.0 release I was hoping it would be true. Then the whole world would not be pinging at once. Get the 2.5G phones activated during the week, and then ensure that 4G users have an awesome experience.
At least a few people got the 2.0 software early. I downloaded it yesterday morning and have been enjoying it with no problems. ;)
@LondonConsultant
Perhaps you meant, "that'll teach Apple for relying on Apple Xserve"? They do use their own products, no?
We are home with our new 16g white iphones, and not only could we not be activated at the store, but we cannot connect with itunes at home. Looks like the whole system is jacked. You can get to the itunes store normally, but if you try to connect through the phone, nothing is happening. Anybody else figured this out yet???
You can't use the iTunes functions until it's activated. I think the 1st gen was the same way.
The phone are active just the activate feature is being workied on. I got the 2.0 update and at the end of the sync it gave me an error code so I tried to access itunes through my laptop using the 7.6 itunes and it said that I need 7.7 since my iphone is 2.0 now. You have to do a search for itunes 7.6 off a site that is secure and you will see what I mean. The activation should be up shortly at least that what my cousin tells me.
Fail. Stock tumbling.
Uh...nope
Apple is currently beating the market. How is that tumbling?