David Yoo holds up his iPhone as he screams leaving the Apple store in New York
© AFP Don Emmert

NEW YORK CITY (AFP) - The much-ballyhooed launch of iPhone 3G was marred by activation troubles blamed on Apple's online iTunes system.

Telecom giant AT&T, the exclusive service provider for iPhones in the United States, said iTunes computer problems were felt internationally but did not deter people from snatching up the second-generation models.

"It's an issue with iTunes," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told AFP. "We've just had a great day. Many of our stores are sold out. We're thrilled."

While Apple's plan was to require people to activate new iPhone 3G handsets before leaving stores, it switched to unlocking the software so people could tend to it later using home computers.

Customers wait in line to buy the new 3G iPhone
© AFP Ronaldo Schemidt

IPhones must be synced with iTunes before they will work even if service contracts have been signed with carriers.

Some customers shrugged off delay in bringing iPhones to life while others derided it as "a nightmare."

In New York, customers jostled outside the company's Fifth Avenue store as Apple employees cheered them on when sales kicked off at 8:00 am, one of the last places to join the global rollout.

First out of the shop with his prize in his hand was David Yoo, 24, of New York. "I am very happy. I am going to call my mother," he said.

Yoo, who arrived at midnight and bought the 16G phone for 299 US dollars, said he bought it because it is "faster with the Internet, and for the GPS."

Nearly 200 people queued outside the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco north of Apple's headquarters in the California city of Cupertino.

Customers in New York waiting in line to buy the new 3G iPhone
© AFP Don Emmert

Customers leaving the store with new iPhone 3G models after sales began said the shop's computers were down and the mobile phones weren't activated.

Britons crowding around Apple's flagship store in London took delays caused by the technical glitch in stride, saying the wait was worth it.

"I'm leaving now because I've got to go to work but I'd otherwise wait all day. I've got a lot of patience for Apple," said Chris Moorby, 26.

Another customer, Antonio Guerra, 19, was prepared to be patient.

"I'm good, I've been here for 19 hours, I don't mind waiting a few more," he said.

Customers in London wait in line to buy the new 3G iPhone
© AFP Leon Neal

Apple did not respond to AFP requests for comment but mobile phone network provider 02, its partner in Britain for the handset, said demand for the iPhone 3G had been "absolutely phenomenal."

Staff at the London store said the glitch had apparently been caused by the volume of people overloading the system.

Apple fans across Asia queued for hours to get their hands on the new iPhone.

More than 1,000 people, many waiting through the night, besieged a store in downtown Tokyo as the iPhone went on sale for the first time in Japan, where having the latest gizmo is almost a national obsession.

A customer shows Apple's new 3G iPhone mobile handset at the Softbank shop in Tokyo
© AFP Yoshikazu Tsuno

Some Japanese began camping out days before the launch for the thrill of being the first to buy the new smartphone -- described as twice as fast and half as expensive as the original iPhone, released in June 2007, but never sold in Japan.

New Zealanders got the first chance to buy it when stores in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch opened just after midnight.

In Australia, a few hundred people spent a chilly evening outside a Sydney store which got a jump on its competitors by opening at midnight.

First through the doors was business analyst Brett Howell, who said he was surprised to find himself at the head of the queue when he turned up about 11 hours earlier.

"I was shocked that no one had lined up," he told reporters. "I'm not a super geek, but apparently I am. I'm Australia's super geek."

©AFP

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