O2 cocks up Iphone UK launch - High demand causes lengthy wait for customers

By Dave Murray @ Friday, July 11, 2008 12:14 PM

Section - Telecoms/Mobile

A computer glitch on O2's network meant that the 150 people who waited outside Apple's UK flagship store on Regent Street this morning did not get the chance to buy a Iphone until lunchtime.

When the shop opened at 8am, no one managed to walk away with the gizmo, thanks to a problem with the locked-in telco supplier O2. Apple staff said the problem had been caused by O2's computer system, which buckled under the weight of new orders.

Because of Apple's lock-in contract arrangement with O2, the Iphone was not allowed to leave the store without the customer being signed up. The first phone was finally secured at 10.15am by Michael Slater, an engineering student from York who had joined the queue at 1.30am. Others were not so lucky, as the O2 computer continued to be slow.

O2 admitted that there had been 'some technical issues' connecting customers in the Apple store because of the high demand. Oddly enough, if you had bought your Iphone from an O2 store you would have walked out of the shop in 20 minutes. When we checked, the O2 system was still a bit slow. The Apple fanboys were quick to blame O2, not Apple, for the mess.

O2 warned that some of those who queued will not get new Iphone until August, thanks to the fact that Apple did not make enough. X

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