Can't activate IPhone 3G

First thing this morning I tried updating my firmware to 2.0. Itunes bricked that phone, then went to the AT&T store to buy my new phone. This one I can't activate either. So now I have about $600 of phones that dont work!

at the apple store nyc on 59th st - waiting for i tunes to activate.
takes one hour.

APPLE THIS ONE IS BAD!!! Not only am I out of contact with my iPhone I cannot use my old phone that used to be with Verizon.....leaving me iEMPTY!!!!

stood in line to all morning to get my new iphone to find that they are not activating the iphones in the stores but just do it at home. well... it won't let me do that either.

Quit pissing and moaning. Its 230 central and the servers are working ultra fast now. Now take your heads of out your asses and activate.

Activation didn't work in the store but was really fast at home for me.

I was the 8th person standing in the Birmingham queue Friday 11th July. We entered the store at 8.02 am and thereafter things just went from bad to worse. I finally left the store just before 6.00 pm with my iPhone. (At 4.00 pm - the UK's second city Apple Store - had managed to sell grand total of 5! Yes, folks - FIVE! Mighty impressive statistics.
How could O2 and Apple get the registration and activation process so wrong? There was no realistic contingency/fallback plan but plenty of red faces, apologies and platitudes.
Even today (Sat 11.44 am) there is no 02 signal showing on the handset - O2's website and their telephone help desk inform me I may have to wait another 3 days! So on present performance, let's call that 7 days shall we ....

Recent reports claim the problem with activation is in the iTunes server. Given recent testing underway internal to AT&T systems, based on coding and QC testing performed by AT&T Wireless resources (many of which are outsourced), I would bet the carrier is not all innocent either. If Apple were smart, they'd drop the partnership.