I officially have an iBrick (an iPhone that does not appear to be able to be activated by normal human means.)
I’ve had an entertaining series of problems. I’m still amused, but getting closer to annoyed.
I picked up my phone last night at the Flatiron Apple Store on the way home from the airport. It took me 45 seconds to purchase it (no line.) I tried to activate it when I got home. iTunes went through its upgrade cycle to 7.3 and then gave me errors that I didn’t have the right version to work with the iPhone so I had to deinstall / install iTunes 7.3. I did that and tried to activate. It got hung up trying to check my credit and told me I had to go to an AT&T store to get a pre-authorization code.
I went to sleep, woke up, took care of the puppy, did email, went running, and ended up at the AT&T store at 11:30. By 12:30 I had a pre-approved credit code – it appears that the Lifelock service I use on my credit reports broke AT&T’s algorithm.
I had lunch at the Rio, sat down in my new office, and tried again. Now the iTunes store “may be busy.” Apparently “The Apple” is unhappy with me. The iBrick sure is pretty (useless) so far. I guess – per iTunes recommendation – I’ll try again later.