14 DAY TRIAL // While the big news surrounding the iPhone launch consists in the unlucky few who are having big problems with activating their iPhone, there are a few reports floating around the web about dead or faulty iPhones that made it into the hands of customers.
While most of the reports from the iPhone early adopters are rather ecstatic about their new device, and some are cursing Apple and AT&T for their activation problems, fewer still are simply looking at their dead iPhone. The exact nature of the problem varies. Some devices stopped working after a while, while others have had problems with the touch screen or video playback. Other issues that are being reported include dead or missing SIM cards provided with the device, which makes activation via iTunes impossible. Very few of the dead iPhone reports go beyond the fact that it is dead, but some are reporting that they went to Apple stores and were simply handed a replacement with no problem whatsoever. Those who go down the customer support line have a much harder time since both Apple and AT&T are simply swamped with the people who are having activation problems.
Other reports that surface every once in a while mention that the iPhones launch iPhoto and won't do anything else. While not confirmed, this is suspected to be little more than a software issue caused by the fact that either iTunes 7.3 or Mac OS X 10.4.10, or both are missing from the computer. The iPhone needs both in order to function properly.
The number of dead or faulty iPhones seems to be very small, and both Apple and AT&T stores are very helpful and should offer replacements with minimal hassle. By and large, the activation problem seems to be much bigger than that of non-functional devices.