8GB iPhone - $599, AT&T contract - $59.99, activation fee - $36...

...Not being able to activate your iPhone for 24 hours - priceless

1 July 2007 19:55 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Reports from America are indicating that some eager iPhone owners are having problems getting their shiny new phones activated.

Spokespeople for AT&T and Apple insist there are no significant activation issues but blogs, chatrooms and American gadget new sites report a different story.

Some Apple customers have had to wait over 24 hours for their iPhones to be activated with people transferring numbers from other operators most affected.

Rather surprisingly giving the hype leading up to the launch, it appears that AT&T was unprepared for the amount of activations that they would have to cope with over launch weekend.

"Your activation requires additional time to complete" is the message showing on unhappy customer's new toys, leading the device to be temporarily dubbed the iBrick.

Particularly frustrating for the new iPhone owners is that none of the other features, the iPod functionality, can be used until the activation process is completed.

Although we don't yet know the official figures for the number of iPhones sold, and therefore attempted activations, it is probably just a question of bottle-necking, leading to criticism that AT&T should have load-tested their servers before iDay.

Customers that contacted the companies involved to complain have reported AT&T officials blaming iTunes and Apple apparently putting that blame straight back at AT&T's door.

Apple's Support Discussions, where lots of unhappy iPhone customers were reported to be sharing complaints and venting anger, were "unavailable" as of Sunday evening, British time.

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