The launch of the iPhone has come and gone, an event of huge proportions that has not gone without incident. The remote activation of the phones via iTunes is something new, something that has not been attempted so far, and while it is a big step forward, it did cause issues for some customers. The problem is twofold.

Firstly, the activation process itself seems to have a few problems. Some users had their devices activated and running in just a few minutes, others had to wait several hours, but the real issue is those users that after over 12 hours still have not been activated. To add insult to injury, AT&T has informed them that activation may take up to an additional 36 hours. This is not an issue with people switching over from other carriers that are dragging their feet, and has been encountered by both AT&T customers as well as those switching from other networks. Exactly what is wrong with the activation process for these people is unclear, but it is obvious that AT&T is going to need time to fix it, much to the chagrin of the early adopters.

Secondly, the iPhone is practically an emergency brick until it is activated. The device will do nothing without activation, only letting you dial emergency numbers. Thus, those who are having problems with the activation procedure are left with little more than a very expensive paperweight for the time being. This is perhaps the bigger of the two problems, since eager customers cannot make use of any of the device's features while they wait for everything to go online.

The activation problems are largely attributed to the huge number of activations that took place in the same time frame, but this seems not to be the case. The system cannot be as loaded today as it was yesterday as in many places, the phones are already sold out, but the unlucky customers are still waiting.