iPhone Users Plagued by Software Problems

SAN FRANCISCO — On Friday, the iPhone was the iCan’t for many users.

Apple suffered massive network gridlock Friday morning as many of the six million users of the original iPhone tried to upgrade to new software at the same time as the first buyers of the new iPhone 3G were trying to activate their purchases.

The problem was magnified by the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s campaign to persuade Macintosh users to switch from its .Mac Web service to a new MobileMe service that is intended to seamlessly share information between Macintosh computers and the iPhone.

The meltdown is a classic example of problems that can result from complex systems that have single points of failure. In this case, the company appeared to invite disaster by not separating its existing customers from new ones.

“There are certainly lessons in preparedness,” said Richard Doherty, a consumer electronics industry consultant who is president of Envisioneering Group in Seaford, N.Y. “The acid test for many years has been Christmas morning where customers contact companies in droves after opening presents,” Mr. Doherty said, adding that he had still not been successful in activating his own phone after upgrading.

In addition to long waiting times for iPhone 3G purchasers at Apple and AT&T stores, current iPhone users found that their phones were made inoperable when they tried to upgrade their phones to the latest iPhone software. The iPhone now requires an authentication step in which the phone must connect to Apple servers through its iTunes software application before it will function again after a software upgrade.

[To read the rest head over to the New York Times]

From the downtown Apple store in San Francisco...yeah....that's the line...going down the block and around the corner (and that was at 1 p.m. or so).

I'm glad that I don't feel the need to own an iPhone. Sucks for all of those who waited in line for so long to have to put up with the nonsense.

Yeah...it was pretty bad this morning.  I got up early and was in line at 6am since they were opening at 8am.  That put me at about 70th in line.  I didn't get inside the actual store until about 10:30 (I couldn't believe it took that long) and didn't get the phone purchased and then activated until about noon.  They really have no excuse for such a terrible buying experience, but the phone does appear to kick serious ass (it's my first iPhone...a full report is coming).

Lots of people had a much worse time than I did...and that's just incredible.  I'm eager to see if Apple does anything to apologize (two free apps for people or something at least?).  I appreciated them helping people out with the gift cards after the pricing snafu with the first model...they have an opportunity to redeem themselves...a bit...

They better redeem themselves. The fanboys will forget about it in a few days, but the average joe won't be too happy.