Apple Store Activation FAIL

It appears that UK iPhones require a PC to activate so the Apple store ran into trouble on today’s launch as all their systems were running on Mac and couldn’t activate the phones.
LMAO.

Full story here

O2 loses iPhone 3G order

After both my brother and I received a confirmation email from O2 for our iPhone order we were both happy and expecting delivery of our phones today.

It seems a confirmation email is not enough. Concerned that I had received a follow up email confirming dispatch of my phone and he had not he called O2 today. Despite his confirmation email they explained they had no record of his order and they were out of stock so couldn’t help him! He now joining the queues outside an O2 store somewhere.

I double checked tracking on my order and it still shows my phone has been dispatched and picked up by DHL at 12:15 yesterday and it has reached Dartford at 6:21 this morning so fingers crossed.

iPhone 3G hands on

I got a very welcome email from O2 advising the status of my iPhone order:
We’re pleased to inform you that your O2 upgrade order has now been dispatched.

Your delivery details are:
Option: STANDARD DELIVERY
Cost: £0.00
Date of Delivery: Next working day

I then got hands-on an actual iPhone 3G. It feels completely different in the hand - partly because it’s shape is different and also because the back is plastic and not metal. I can’t say whether it feels better or worse- just different. I’m definitely less likely to drop it as it fits in the curve of the hand better.

First port of call was to check out the GPS on google maps. I didn’t manage to get a blue GPS dot but it was quick to locate me based on my wifi connection. Found maps to be overall more responsive.

I next checked out the app store. This works like a combination of the jailbreak appTapp and the iPhone iTunes store. It was quick and had quite a few apps already available to download. Most were chargeable.

The camera was not mentioned during the iPhone 3G announcements and tour and for good reason. It is just as bad as before - no noticeable improvement except again response time is slightly better.

I only had a few minutes with it so didn’t get to test out 3G speeds but I’ve had 3G phones before so know what to expect there.

Not sure if improved responsiveness was because there is better hardware or because I’m comparing to my iPhone which I’ve jammed up with about 30 jailbreak apps.

Will write more when I have my own one tomorrow, then I can download Apps.

More reviews at testfreaks.co.uk

App store released? - iPhone 3G frenzy escalates

Today saw the latest version of iTunes which I am hoping will include the app store and a fireware update for iPhones enabling 3rd party apps to finally be installed without jailbreaking your phone. I might keep my iPhone 1 jailbroken and just use the app store on my iPhone 3G.

All my friends that managed to see the “Thank you” message on the O2 upgrade store have now received their confirmation emails so it looks like it’s a happy ending for some.

Now we can laugh again it might be time to see some iPhone comedy videos like this one from CNET:

I even make a cameo in this one:

O2 back track on iPhone 3G instore upgrades, ebay sets value at £380

Not all of my friends were as lucky to get their iPhone 3G confirmation yet and are considering their options. O2 support say that they WILL be allowing upgraders to get their phones instore on release day along with new subscribers. This information will be released on the 10th of July (the day before launch). This will mean upgrades will be possible at O2, Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores.

If you fail to get hold of one instore on the day the street price set by ebay auctions is around £380. Finiding listings can be a bit tricky with everyone putting iPhone somewhere in their item descriptions whether it is an iPhone or not to get noticed in search results. Here is a link with a filter for the most common erroneous listings.

Users still under contract with their old network providers hoping to switch to O2 for an iPhone are unlikely to have get a hold of a phone in this first batch. More are expected later in the year though.

O2 still pay for iPhone ads despite selling out

Despite selling out of iPhones on the O2 website and rumoured to have run out of 16gb iPhones in all but a few stores O2 are still paying for iPhone ads via Google ad words. Save some money - stop advertising - I think enough people know and I doubt you have enough stock to please them.

O2 iPhone 3G upgrade orders Confirmation emails are in!

I checked my email today and was delighted to find my last minute order did go through successfully and O2 have emailed me confirmation. Many are still wondering whether or not their many attempts to place an order on the O2 site were successful or not - I guess today they will find out.

iPhone 3G out of stock in UK

First Carphone Warehouse Pre-orders went out of stock. Then there were rumours that O2 had gone out of stock. Now 2 mins after I got my order in the O2 site is confirming that they have sold out of online stock. This means that any remaining stock is reserved for launch day and is likely to be in high demand. Looks like those out camping aren’t so crazy after all.

There are also rumours that some stock intended for Canada may find it’s way over to Europe. Whether this is true, or if it has anything to do with the backlash against Canadian phone operators excessive rates or just because of higher demand in Europe no one knows.

As my pervious post indicates - as to whether my order or others went through successfully remains to be seen.

Continue reading »

O2 remove validation to spare customers continued iPhone 3G upgrade misery

If you are a UK iPhone user looking to upgrade or if you have been following the story on this blog you no doubt know the problems O2 have been having taking orders from their customers wanting to upgrade.

Now rather than trying to validate each order against their existing accounts and/or taking payments/credit checks at the time of order it seems the order form has been changed. Now all visitors to https://upgrades.o2.co.uk are pushed onto the failover form and the details are taken without processing and the user is greeted with this message: Thank you for your order. We are processing this and will contact you if there are any complications with the details you have provided.

While not a fix this is an improvement that spares users continually re-trying the site and allows O2 to process the information off-line at their leisure and contact users that have entered erroneous data or could not be validated.

Fingers crossed my details are not lost.

iPhone 3G O2 upgrade update

After 5hrs of failed attempts and hearing rumours that the iPhone 3G 16gb sold out already I was getting rather angry and frustrated. I called up O2 who reassured me that they had not sold out and that they have sufficient stock to cover all existing iPhone users. However, the stats worry me.

She advised that 80k text messages were sent out this morning.
She also stated they had a total of 80k iPhones in stock.
She said that they have 9000 calls from users complaining about the website so far this morning.
I also said I had heard Carphone warehouses’ pre-orders had sold out which she said isn’t true - but checking their site it is still showing as sold out.

What worries me is
1) If they have 80k iPhones in stock this will mostly include 8GB models so the rumour that the 16GB is sold out is possibly true
2) If they have 80K instock how much of that is reservered for the launch day? They are not going to open stores with no stock are they? So is this figure reserved for upgraders - I doubt it
3) If 9000 users have called to complain are the other 71k getting their orders in?

It is looking less and less likely that I’ll be getting an iPhone on release day and it’s not for want of trying. Apple must be shaking their head.