iPhone 3G 'mania' takes out O2 upgrade site

By Andrew Lim on 07 July 2008, 11:57am

Those of you lucky enough to own an iPhone will have received a text message this morning indicating that you could now pre-order your new iPhone 3G from O2's Web site. Unfortunately, it seems that O2 wasn't prepared for the tidal wave of upgraders and the site crashed.

The crushing disappointment echoed around the Internet, so we decided to speak to O2 this morning to find out what happened. Apparently it didn't expect such a high demand and is working extremely hard to get the site back up -- which it has now, although it's not loading properly for many people. The main problem seems to be a significant Flash element to the page, which takes longer to load.

Some iPhone owners spoke to us today to discuss their annoyance that O2 didn't anticipate today's high levels of demand. One eager upgrader pointed out that this may all be a publicity stunt aimed at creating buzz around Friday's launch of the iPhone 3G.

If O2 isn't giving you any joy, you can always try Carphone Warehouse, which today also announced iPhone 3G pre-orders to new and existing customers. One way or the other you should be able to sign up to a new contract today and hopefully get your hands on an iPhone 3G soon. We'll be heading down to the Apple store on Regent Street this Friday, so keep an eye out for our coverage of the day. -Andrew Lim