Above, visual proof that I’ve managed to get my iPhone 3G activated, syncing, and restoring. How’d I do it? I followed the advice of our genius commenters, of course. Here’s the deal:
Short version: Nice people wait, mean people spam the refresh but get it done.
Long version: Hook your iPhone up to iTunes, watch iTunes try and fail to get to the iTunes Store for activation. At this point, you have a decision. The Yin in you will tell you that the reason that so many people are having problems is that so many people are doing exactly what you’re doing. So relax, go grab a coffee, and try later. The Yang in you will tell you that, screw those other people, you just need to keep trying until you get through. The fastest way to do that is not to unplug the iPhone but simply to just click OK on the error message, click on another section of iTunes (like a playlist) and then click on the iPhone in the sidebar again.
Or do a mix of the above, the Yin and the Yang, the spam refresh and the sit it out, with little dots of the other mixed into each. So Taoist of you, Steve Jobs would be proud.
Good luck everybody, let us know how it’s working for you in the comments! Namaste
As we just noted earlier today, iTunes is feeling the hurt of all the traffic today. Case in point: Activation is confirmed to be down all across Canada. We’re also getting reports that some people who did manage to buy an iPhone 3G are stuck in emergency call mode and can’t activate. It seems that activation is so tough right now some AT&T stores are letting customers leave without activating their iPhones. Our advice: do not leave the store without getting it activated, at least for today.
Meanwhile, there’s even worse news: people who applied the 2.0 update to their first-generation iPhones are reporting in the comments that since iTunes is hurting so much, they can’t connect to activate their phone.
In other words, hold off on that update for a bit, otherwise the only person you may be able to call today is going to be 911, and as unhappy as you may be about the entire situation, the police really don’t want to hear about it.
Quick Update: If you’re looking at a non-functional iPhone 3G that can’t be activated but your old phone had its SIM de-activated, pop the new sim out and slap it in your old phone so you can at least make some calls and suchlike.
Although Apple forces you to get your iPhone activated in-store before you walk out the door, that may not mean that people are going to have a trouble-free syncing experience today. To wit: the error message above is the best I can get when I plug my iPhone 3G into my Mac. Apparently iTunes wants to double-check that my iPhone really is what it’s supposed to be. With the presumably massive number of people getting iPhone 3Gs today, iTunes is not handling the load so well.
The store itself is up, but I find it aggravating in the extreme that I can’t sync over any of my apps or media without this initial call-in to the Apple mothership. Thank god Mobile Me is working for me, otherwise I wouldn’t even have contacts on my iPhone.
Update: Rene just called in to say that all of Rogers in Canada is basically down an unable to activate iPhones, so he’s just sitting pretty in the store until things clear up. Let us know — any delays at AT&T or Apple stores when trying to activate?
…Speaking of downtime: yeah, we know, TiPb is not performing up to spec lately. We’re upgrading servers over the weekend (we hope) to bring it back up to acceptable levels. Pardon our 503s.
