Don't worry, this quest has a happy ending, with the new 3G iPhone not only in hand but activated. As anyone with an iPhone noticed, the Apple servers crashed from all the new customers trying to activate their new phones and leaving old iPhone users in limbo, frozen trying to download the 2.0 upgrade which adds great new features and services to older versions of the iPhone (more on that later from Mia.) Add to that over 500 new apps and it's like you've got a new phone. (Pictured below, the new tap-and-tilt game, Super Monkey Ball.)

A tech fiend friend of mine, Kevin, in Manhattan Beach, CA. tell this story:

I got to the AT&T store at 5:30, thinking I would be first in line. Boy was I wrong. I was 30th in line. By the time the store opened, I would guess there were about 150 . . . wrapped around the corner and beyond! I got a quote from the person at the front of the line. His name was Justin Levin. He got there the night before at 9 p.m.!! He waited in his car until he saw people coming and then got in line which was about 3 a.m. His favorite application was the AIM, so he could "keep in touch." He wanted to upgrade because of the "new features and it's about time!" His favorite function is the 3G aspect for speed. The traffic didn't seem to be affected besides the normal morning traffic . . . but it was very crowded. I found out that the AT&T store sold out at 10 o'clock, about an hour after I got mine.

With activation almost impossible, Kevin waited to this morning to plug into iTunes, and most original iPhone owners have been able to download the new software.

AT&T is reporting this morning that they have sold out of the iPhones at most of it's 2,000 retail stores in the US, but they are taking orders for the devices.

And the best part of the story? Kevin bought two new iPhones.