Oh AT&T, could you have FAILed any harder on iPhone 4 pre-order day?

Wow! Could AT&T have FAILed any harder on iPhone 4 pre-order day? I really don't think so.

Let's count the ways the company failed both customers and Apple:

• The entire pre-order system ground to a near halt within minutes, vomiting out pointless error messages.
• For those who persisted, the system could be coaxed into working, albeit at a glacial pace.
• Customers visiting AT&T stores didn't fare any better, with upgrades taking some 20 minutes per person.
• Some AT&T stores gave up entirely on the IT infrastructure and instead resorted to pen and paper.
• According to AT&T, customers who did manage to pre-order an iPhone 4 on Tuesday afternoon are unlikely to get their handset on launch day.
• In what must be an additional embarrassment for AT&T, some customers found that on logging in to their accounts online that they were faces with the details of other customers. This is the second data breach to affect Apple customers using AT&T this month.
• With respect to the data leakage, AT&T has issued a statement that makes it pretty clear the company has no idea what's going on:"We have been unable to replicate the issue, but the information displayed did not include call-detail records, social security numbers, or credit card information." If the issue can't be replicated, how can AT&T be so sure what data was or wasn't leaked?

This is a complete and utter mess, and it's amazing to think of Apple standing on the sidelines looking on at this disastrous handling of the pre-order of a flagship product.