July 11 - 9:20am EDT   The UK launch of the iPhone 3G has been crippled by activation problems, say multiple sources. O2's press office has confirmed that within minutes of the first sales in the country, all stores experienced an outage in the servers needed for the activation process. This was due to "huge simultaneous customer demand," says an O2 representative, who nevertheless promised that ordering and activation should otherwise take approximately 20 minutes. An O2 store on Oxford Street was observed handling roughly 15 people per hour though, meaning that some customers would have to wait hours. [full story]

July 8 - 10:45pm EDT   Carriers around the world are expecting shortages of Apple's iPhone, with saying they will be sold out in "minutes" and others indicating that the crunch could last for weeks. In a cautionary message to potential iPhone buyers, Britain's O2 says a rush of customers, ordering as many 13,000 per second, brought down its online orders for iPhone 3G: "We just weren’t prepared for this unprecedented level of demand," the company said in a memo. "No website is." The British carrier, however, said that stock is limited due to the simultaneous launch of the iPhone in 22-nations -- and while Apple's head of retail Ron Johnson has tried to allay concerns -- especially in the US, ... [full story]

July 8 - 4:35pm EDT   Apple is primarily responsible for iPhone ordering problems at O2 UK, the latter company is said to be claiming by e-mail. In response to an inquiry from one customer, O2 Sales Director Steve Shurrock is said to be blaming Apple for the almost immediate drain of online pre-orders. "We have been working continuously with them [Apple] to get as much stock for the UK as possible," says Shurrock. "Unfortunately, they have only been able to supply a small proportion of the number of phones we asked for, because they are launching simultaneously in 22 countries." [full story]

July 8 - 11:10am EDT   Apple Canada may be further punishing Rogers by refusing to sell the iPhone 3G at its own retail stores, according to an investigation by AppleInsider. A conference call purportedly held Monday evening will see Apple decline to sell iPhones at its own stores, instead showing them only as demo units. Customers will have no choice but to visit a Fido or Rogers store to buy the device, the report explains. [full story]

July 7 - 5:55pm EDT   After confirming last week that it would host early hours on July 11th as the iPhone 3G launches, O2 on Monday confirmed seeing "unprecedented" demand for the device, citing sales numbers for pre-orders through its website. Pocket-lint reveals that the UK wireless carrier offered customers who pre-registered through its website the chance to purchase the iPhone on its online store, and noted that, within hours, it had completely sold out of the stock set aside for those orders. [full story]

July 7 - 10:05am EDT   O2 UK customers wanting a pre-paid iPhone 3G will have to wait longer than contract subscribers, the carrier has announced. The wording on its pay-as-you-go subsite has been changed to list availability for "later this year," in contrast with the July 11th launch for contract plans. One of the few third-party distributors of the iPhone, Carphone Warehouse, has meanwhile issued a statement saying that pre-paid 3Gs will ship "in time for the Christmas period." [full story]

July 7 - 4:20am EDT   Current UK iPhone users with the O2 carrier, on Monday received news that they can pre-order the new iPhone 3G starting 8AM Monday morning. New phones will be delivered directly to customers by courier on Friday the 11th July, coinciding with the iPhone 3G launch. There is no upgrade fee for the iPhone 3G 8GB version for customers contracted to the £45 and £75 monthly tariffs, and a £99 charge for users of the £35 and £30 tariffs. For users wanting the 16GB version of the device, it is free with the £75 tariff, £59 with the £45 per month tariff, and priced at £159 on the £30 and £35 tariffs. O2 notes that these prices only apply to existing customers, and expire on ... [full story]

July 2 - 9:25am EDT   O2 UK stores will begin selling the iPhone 3G at 7AM on July 11th, the company has announced. The timing is even earlier than that of AT&T in the United States, which has announced that its doors will open at 8AM on the 11th, an hour before normal operations. The move is rumored to be necessary due to Apple's mandatory in-store activation policy, which may require several minutes per phone and could result in extended launch line-ups. [full story]

July 1 - 11:45am EDT   The activation process for the iPhone 3G should indeed be in two steps, O2 Ireland has confirmed. As part of its release information on the 3G, the company has mentioned that the first part of activation will involve the SIM card being activated in-store. To actually use the phone, however, people will then have to sync the phone with their computer's copy of iTunes, and run through a separate series of activation steps. [full story]

June 25 - 6:05pm EDT   O2 will offer the 3G iPhone as a Pay & Go option – the 8GB device available for £300, the 16GB for £400 – and will include six months of unlimited on-device browsing. Unlimited browsing after the initial six months costs an additional £10 per month, while using the O2's standard Pay & Go plans. Users will be able to "top up" their account with rates varying from £10 to £30, with each tier offering anywhere between 500 to unlimited minutes, and 300 to unlimited in-country text messages. [full story]

June 25 - 9:30am EDT   Vodafone India has already begun taking pre-registrations on the iPhone 3G, according to an announcement. The move is unusual in that the company has yet to disclose a final release date for the device, although rival Bharti Airtel is expected to release it on July 11th along with the initial wave of iPhone 3G deployments. Bharti has not formally announced any iPhone plans, including any registration campaigns. [full story]

June 24 - 7:05pm EDT   As the widespread international release of the iPhone approaches its inception, a British customer revealed that O2 – potentially other carriers as well – will allegedly offer a pre-registration service for customers who want to buy on the 11th of July. A visit to an O2 store yielded information that the carrier will offer users an early-bird registration credit check on July 1st to expedite the pickup process on launch day, according to a forum post at MacRumors [full story]

June 17 - 10:50am EDT   Interest in the iPhone 3G has nearly quadrupled over that of the first-generation iPhone, says the UK division of phone carrier O2. Over 130,000 people are said to have pre-registered for information on the 3G launch, a significant shift from the relatively small 35,000 who expressed interest in the 2.5G device, which first launched in the UK on November 9th. Actual sales in that region fell below analyst expectations. [full story]

June 13 - 9:25am EDT   O2 has published new information on its expanded Wi-Fi service for iPhone owners. Beginning with the launch of the iPhone 3G on July 11th, Wi-Fi will grow beyond The Cloud to include BT's Openzone, which incorporates over 3,000 hotspots located around the UK and in various businesses around the world. In total, owners of either first-generation or 3G iPhones will access to more than 9,000 hotspots. [full story]

June 10 - 9:35am EDT   UK carrier O2 has confirmed a number of rumored tariff options for the iPhone 3G. Most significant may be the ability to pick up the phone for free with the two most expensive plans: a new £45 per month contract nets the 8GB iPhone for free, or the 16GB model for £59; a £75 per month contract delivers the 16GB version for free. The plans offer 1,200 minutes and 500 texts or 3,000 minutes and 500 texts, respectively. [full story]