Well, we hope that all of you happy iPhone owners out there didn’t try to restore your iPhones today, because if you did, you won’t be using it for the next couple of hours.

After restoring my iPhone today (I was advised to do so by a Genius in order to try and fix a faulty battery meter) iTunes was not able to re-activate my phone with AT&T since “iPhone activations are not currently available due to scheduled AT&T system maintenance.”

The text continues to explain: “We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. To activate your iPhone, please connect it again after 3pm EST Sunday.”

Excuse me, but are you kidding me? For years we’ve been making fun of Microsoft and its rigorous activation policies for Windows and now we’ve become a victim of it ourselves?

Activation in itself always presents an annoyance, but the least AT&T and Apple could do is to make sure that customers don’t ever need to spend hours without a working phone. Activation should NEVER be down for maintenance. A backup has to be in place. Alternatively, the iTunes store should maybe check BEFORE restoring your iPhone if activation is available or not. Afterwards it really doesn’t help much any more.

Either way, this sucks. Bad Apple. Bad AT&T. You’ve really screwed this one up.

Thank you for cutting me out from the world.

I just wanted to congratulate all of you happy iphone owners out there. You did well. We hope you like your little friend as much as we do.

Enjoy!

Ps: of course this entry was written from my iphone. Typing isnt all that bad.

Here comes an update from TAP correspondent Armen Katchiguian, who’s holding down the line in Sin City:

According to Armen, his line is one of the heavyweights, with a herd fat sweaty nerds 300-400 strong. The store manager has made an appearance stating “I don’t think the people here will go home disappointed,” indicating a large iPhone shipment waiting inside!

Also of note, Armen reports a man offering up to $2,000 dollars for a spot near the front of the line! Expect a detailed report of this later.

I wonder what could be in those FedEx boxes… iPhones maybe?

See us and a collection of other streams on our Round-Up Page! And don’t forget to go to our live chat!

Update 11:27pm: We’ve added two more live streams to our page, ZOOOMR TV and SHOOBY on Justin.tv

Got a stream we aren’t covering? Let us know in the comments!

As of 6:00pm PST, the entire staff of The Apple Press has taken their place in line for the iPhone.

As long as our batteries and internet connections hold out, keep your eyes glued here for continuous updates throughout the night.

If YOU are currently in line, drop us a note in the comments!

Check it out on the Apple iPhone page for yourself!

According to the video, users will be able to activate their iPhones from home using iTunes. Incredibly, you can do everything you could do at the AT&T right inside of iTunes, including:

• Signing up with AT&T
• Choosing a plan
• Getting a credit check
• Number porting!

Even with all the other hype, this seems to be a HUGE deal. I am not aware of any other cellphone provider that allows its users this much independence.

After all, how can a salesman pressure you into buying the insurance when you are sitting on your own couch?

Will this be yet another way that the iPhone changes the way people use cell phones? According to AT&T:

iPhone’s user-driven activation is another example of how AT&T and Apple have partnered to bring innovative new features to our customers,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO, AT&T. “iPhone’s innovative activation and sync is just one example of how this is going to be a real industry game-changer.

One has to wonder how users will be able to take advantage of discounts and other services provided by AT&T during the home activation. Users must be able to activate in-store as well for this very reason, unless there is no plan to honor any existing deals.

With the amount of thought that has gone into this product and its launch, I’m willing to bet that things will go smoothly on Friday, so long as the monkey handling you at the AT&T store can keep the poop on his side of the cage.

Get ‘em while they’re hot folks! Step right up and observe the eighth wonder of the world!

It’s Amazing!
It’s Terrifying!
It’s The Singing Bearded One-Eyed iPhone Pricing Plan!

What? You didn’t think a little showmanship was in order?

After plunking down that fat cashwad for the phone, happy iPhone owners have the privilege of choosing from six different plans, ranging from $59.99 to $219.99.

Every plan includes Visual Voicemail, Unlimited Data and 200 SMS messages. Almost all of the plans include unlimited nights and weekends, with only the cheapest $59.99 plan left out.

See the plans for yourself right here

CNN Money posted an interesting interview with Stanley Sigman, AT&T’s CEO of wireless operations. In the first part, of what will soon be a two-part-series, Sigman explains why AT&T has decided not to sell the iPhone on its website for the launch and how Steve Jobs approached him about the deal three years ago.

It was approaching three years ago when I first received a call from Steve and he shared with me what his vision was. I had not seen a phone and Steve had not held a phone. He had a vision of the phone at that time, and this (contractually obligating AT&T to deploy the iPhone) was in some respects a difficult decision to make because it required me to make a commitment to a device that I had not tested.

He continues to argue that he had full confidence in Apple’s capabilities and that the iPhone is truly an Apple product with a little help from AT&T on the radio side.

At the end of the day, I had confidence that Steve and his team had the capability to design hardware and develop software that would nail it, and I had confidence in our ability to work with them on the radio side and the technical side. We’re not going to take credit for the concept, the hardware or the software. He did that. But we worked with them hand in hand in the testing process to make sure it was what he wanted it to be and what we wanted it to be.

You can read the interview in its entirety on CNN’s website. Part two of the series will follow soon.

Alright everybody. Only three days left until the mighty iPhone will bow its magnificent head. Only three more days until all of our dreams will come true. (Besides the 3G and GPS ones of course…)

So, are you ready to do your fair share and stand in an endless line to purchase your dream like these guys have already started today?

This brings us to an interesting question. How should we behave in the iPhone line?

Here’s some guideline suggestions:

Respect the official line: If someone got to your location before, respect it. These guys probably want the iPhone just as bad as you, so don’t start another line. It’s just going to cause tension.

Don’t cut in line: This one seems self explanatory, but I guess it isn’t. During the PS3 launch many late-comers tried to sneak up to the front of the line. Don’t do it. It WILL get ugly. Trust me!

Be Prepared: Read up on our iPhone Survival Guide so you will be able to get through the night.

Stay home if you won’t buy the iPhone: I know you all want to take a look at the iPhone, but may we plead with you to do so another day, if you’re not yet prepared to purchase the phone? There’s already going to be a large crowd and you’ll only make matters worse. If you’re not eager enough to buy an iPhone on Friday maybe you can wait till Saturday to go and check it out. They won’t sell their on-display models.

At The Apple Press we have a strict rule with our friends. You can only come with us if you are willing to wait with us all night long and are prepared to purchase the iPhone. Absolutely no exceptions. We don’t care if you’re our best friend, our mum, or the pope. If you ain’t buying the iPhone you ain’t coming with us! Basta!

So, are you going to buy the iPhone come Friday? Got any other suggestions you would like to add to the iPhone Queue Protocol? Go ahead, let us know in the comments.