iFiasco: Apple's iPhone launch flawed, faithful told to go home
MICHIGAN AVENUE | Apple faithful wait in long line for their new iPhones only to be forced to wait even longer as technical difficulties sully the moment
(AP)
Excitement gave way to frustration Friday morning when hundreds of people who waited in line at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store were unable to activate their newly purchased iPhones and were told to go home to finish the process.
Andy Pichotta, 19, and Austin Scieszinski, 18, were first in the line that stretched more than two blocks from the front of the store around the corner to Huron and Fairbanks.
The Wisconsin natives began their wait at 3 p.m. Thursday in anticipation of the 8 a.m. release of the iPhone 3G. The new version updates the iPhone by speeding up Internet access and adding a navigation chip.
But after Pichotta paid $299 for the device, he was unable to activate it. And Pichotta's old iPhone was shut down while he waited for Apple to fix the problem.
"I need it to be activated," Pichotta said. "I have to get a hold of my roommate's brother to tell him to pick us up."
Pichotta wasn't the only one experiencing technical difficulties.
Rick Fox, a spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said a global problem with Apple's iTunes servers prevented the phones from being fully activated in the store.
Employees told buyers to go home and perform the last step of the activation process by connecting their phones to their own computers.
But the iTunes servers were equally hard to reach from home, leaving the phones unusable except for emergency calls.
Manny Torres, 27, told himself he'd wait at the store until 9:05 a.m. to see if his 3G would activate.
"It's frustrating," Torres said at 9:06. "My feet hurt. I guess I'll give it four more minutes."
Contributing: AP