• Brandon Leonard •
• Originally published July 11, 2008 at 10:03 p.m., updated July 11, 2008 at 10:03 p.m.

Heavy iTunes traffic Friday frustrated new iPhone 3G owners and kept them from completing the last step before they could use their new phones.

A similar problem occurred when AT&T started selling the original iPhone last June.

Victoria’s AT&T store had some connectivity problems with the in-store steps done in iTunes also, Victoria’s AT&T store manager Melissa Hale said.

“There was intermittent trouble based on Internet traffic,” Hale said.

The store’s first instance this year was around 8:30 a.m.

Hale would not release the number of phones the store received Friday morning, but not all of the 69 people who waited in line when the store opened at 8 a.m. Friday left with a phone in hand.

The store sold out of its in-store stock of iPhones around 10:30 a.m., Hale said. Counting the number of people in line, this was after about 50 people had entered the store to buy one.

Sales associates told several customers the store did not receive an additional shipment of iPhones on Friday morning, a customer said.

Hale could not release any specific information about the store’s shipment schedule, she said.

A Victoria couple, a 19-year-old and an 18-year-old, began camping outside the local AT&T store at 5 p.m. Thursday to be the first to get the new iPhone 3G.

Anthony Hernandez, 19, arrived first at 5 p.m., and his girlfriend, Carissa Faxlanger, 18, joined him around 7 p.m.

“I’ve been sitting here more than 12 hours,” Faxlanger said around 7:45 a.m. Friday, 15 minutes before the phone went on sale. “It’s not cool.”

Hernandez and Faxlanger bought the 16-gigabyte model in white.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced when AT&T would begin selling the 3G at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, roughly a month after stores stopped receiving shipments of the original. Since then, Mac fanatics and newcomers alike were planning to buy the new phone.

“What made it worth the wait? Faster downloads. Faster Internet. It’s way better than the old one,” Hernandez said.

“And you can download applications just for the phone,” Faxlanger added.

“Oh, and the GPS. Yeah, the GPS,” Hernandez said.

A range of people from young to old dressed in anything from business slacks, button-ups and ties to flip-flops, shorts and T-shirts waited for the store to open.

Hale would not say when the store would receive its next shipment of iPhones, but they receive daily shipments of many of the store’s other phones.

While customers cannot take an iPhone home with them the same day if the store has sold out, AT&T is offering customers another way to at least get the phone.

If the store does not have any 3Gs, the customer can order a direct fulfillment.

Customers who order this way will receive their phone in seven to 10 business days.

AT&T will send an e-mail to notify customers of its arrival and activate it on pick up.

Brandon L. Leonard is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-574-1286 or bleonard@vicad.com. You can comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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