Apple's iPhone 3G launches today with minor hiccups
I didn't even need the alarm clock this morning at 4:45 a.m.
After swilling some tasty organic Sumatran coffee, I got on the road, arriving at one of the newer AT&T stores here in San Diego by 5:15 a.m. - placing me around 25th in line. Some early adopters were still snuggled in their sleeping bags as I drove up, the sun barely beginning to illuminate the overcast sky.
The store had eight folks ready to assist in activating the iPhones, and it took nearly 1.5 hours after the 8:00 a.m. opening for my feet to cross the threshold. As luck would have it, they ran out of the 16GB models by the time I could get into the store - the final 16GB model leaving with the girl just ahead of me in line... I would have preferred the 16GB model, but after nearly 4 hours in line, I'd settle for the 8GB.
The activation process went a little long at the counter, and I was sent home with an 'activated' but non-functional iPhone, leaving the store by 9:50 a.m. Arriving back home, I plugged the shiny new 8GB iPhone 3G into my desktop Mac, and to my disappointment, iTunes was unable to contact the iTunes Music Store. This was a necessary step in order to finalize the activation process - the store was likely overwhelmed with new iPhone 3G activation requests, so I made a cup of tea. The iTunes connection problems didn't take too long to be addressed by Apple and by 12:30 p.m. today, my old phone number had completely ported over, and I was using the iPhone for both incoming and outgoing calls.
The one thing that is still not functioning for me is the data connectivity. Using my Wi-Fi connection, I'm able to surf the web, download email and install iPhone apps, but data connectivity doesn't seem to be working if I'm off Wi-Fi, and using AT&T's 3G service. I'm willing to give AT&T the benefit of the doubt, and give them a day or so to ramp up to this extraordinary number of new devices coming onto their networks, or it could be my data plan wasn't properly activated. Regardless, the phone is fantastic, and it will be a great addition to my workflow and playflow!
