Apple marketed the hell out the iPhone 3G S, getting its customers worked up into a frenzy, so they would all want the iPhone 3G S. And it worked, throngs of people pre-ordered and ran to the stores to buy them and then tried to activate it. And then everything came to a screeching halt.

Activation failed.

Oh, the horror of all that work gone down the drain.

The sad thing is, there is really no excuse for it happening, yet again. AT&T has been through three iPhone launches so far and they had activation issues every time. I give them credit–this one was far less serious than any of the others, but still nobody should be getting this message:

You activation requires additional time to complete.Please note: Due to current iPhone activation volumes, it may take up to 48 hours to resolve your issue.

A reasonable argument could be made that AT&T shouldered the bulk of all carrier activations on launch day and that’s why they saw the problems that no other carrier reported having. I don’t think so.

If AT&T did in fact have more activations than anyone else, fine, but they knew it was going to happen beforehand. Prepare for it. I checked with people in several countries and nobody was having the issues that AT&T did.

What bugs me the most about it is that I see people blaming Apple for the problems. People, it’s not Apple’s fault. Apple sells you the hardware, AT&T activates your service.

Apple just took things a step further by giving you a very easy tool–iTunes– to help organize your files and carry out transactions. They are not holding up your activation.

Now Apple has apologized for the activation delays by offering everyone that had issues a $30 iTunes Store credit. The email that went out to affected users reads:

Dear Apple Customer,Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.On Monday, you’ll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.Thank you for choosing Apple.Sincerely, Apple Online Store Team

Thank you Apple for being a responsible company and offering to compensate users for their troubles. Now, where is AT&T and its apology?

Nothing.

Since it was AT&T that caused this mess, I dare say that all, or a good chunk, of that $30 credit is being paid by them, not Apple. There is no doubt that Apple is very giving when it makes a mistake, but there was no error here, besides trusting that AT&T would be on the ball.