second generation

Despite the overwhelming success of the first Apple iPhone launch day, Apple and AT&T did have one glaring black eye left shining after the event: countless owners were plagued by activation problems which prevented new iPhone owners from activating for, in some cases, up to three days. An unactivated iPhone is essentially useless, with functionality locked out pending activation. In many cases, this left new owners with no working phone, as swapping their iPhone SIM with their older device didn't work. The whole activation process was, to put it mildly, an abomination. Considering the heat both Apple and AT&T took in regards to the activation process for the inaugural iPhone launch -- we all could have safely predicted that Apple and AT&T would have all their ducks in line for the iPhone 3G launch, and customers would enjoy a problem-free, quick and easy activation. Right?

Evidently not. Reports have been coming in all morning about what appears to be an eerily similar situation developing with activations of new 3G iPhones. Lines at both Apple and AT&T stores

When it was announced earlier this past week that AT&T planned to open its retail locations at 8am for the launch of the Apple iPhone, many were perplexed at the lack of a similar indication from Apple. After all, why would Apple allow AT&T to draw the crowds to their stores and forfeit all those direct iPhone sales -- not to mention the oodles of companion purchases? As it turns out, Apple isn't that stupid (surprise, surprise), and will be joining the 8am party along with AT&T.

Although unannounced, we've just returned from a long overdue 2 week vacation. A lot transpired during the two weeks our offices were closed (and not just in the world of the iPhone). We won't be able to catch you up all on all of it, but we'll certainly get the important things posted ASAP. Speaking of which, how nice to come home to recently surfaced iPhone 3G unboxing pictures. The following pictures, which turned up on the iPhone Portugal forums seem to be the first legitimate unboxing shots of the new 3G iPhone.

If you're like me, as soon as you get your iPhone 3G home and unboxed, you're going to want to slap a full body 3G iPhone invisibleSHIELD on it before exposing it to the elements. My current iPhone has been protected by the invisibleSHIELD since a few weeks after I purchased it on release day last year.

We told you earlier that the Apple online retail store went down, in typical Apple fashion, pending an update related to the new iPhone 3G. Like the rest of you, we had hoped that the update would include the release and ability to buy the 3G iPhone, but it was not to be. However, even though the iPhone 3G was not released at the WWDC, the Apple online store was updated with a 3G iPhone information page.

The information page has a large collection of information on the new 3G iPhone, including

As expected, Apple has announced the arrival of the second generation 3G iPhone. The announcement occured just moments ago at this years WWDC (world wide developers conference) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Steve Jobs announced the next generation Apple iPhone and all its glory to a crowd of anxious observers who had many a set of cross fingers anticipating the announcement.

However, despite the formal announcement and the presentation of a ton of new information about the new 3G iPhone, it won't be available immediately as many had predicted. Instead, the 3G iPhone will be released worldwide on

Within the last couple of hours, Apple has taken down their online retail store. This is standard practice for Apple when they are adding new products and services to the online store. This serves as further indication that the iPhone 2 may be released at this years WWDC, which kicks off in less than an hour at 10:00 am PDT / 1:00 pm EDT.

Although the release of the 3G, second generation iPhone at today's June 9th WWDC has been rumored for some time, it has never been confirmed. However, the doubters seem few and far between at this point. Major news outlets have been

Yes, "confirmed" is a relative term, at least when it comes to "unconfirmed" iPhone release dates. However, that said, Gizmodo recently reported that a source they describe as "very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch" has confirmed that the 3G iPhone will be announced at this year's WWDC and will be available worldwide immediately thereafter.

Of course, there's no word on this from Apple or AT&T here in the US, but who would expect such?

The report also suggests that the iPhone will no longer be sold at a

Those of you that were avidly following the rumor lead up to the launch of the current version of Apple's iPhone probably remember that one of the major "tells" in regard to the then-coming launch of the iPhone was a leaked memo from AT&T which instructed AT&T retail sales employees that they were restricted from taking vacation during the period between June 15th and July 15th of 2007. As it turned out, release day for the original iPhone turned out to be smack in the middle of that period.

The last month or so has been one of the most prolific in regards to rumors surrounding the release of the 3G iPhone. The latest rumors indicate that testing of the 3G iPhone is already underway by the privileged few, and that the release of the next generation iPhone could be coming as early as June or July.