Apple consoles iPhone 3G S customers with $30 iTunes Store credit

Let's do a little reenactment. You're one of the eager Apple fanboys (or girls) and camp out the night before the iPhone 3G S is released so you can be one of the first to have a new iPhone. You're cold and wet, but you have your new iPhone, and you stumble back to your home to hook it up to iTunes and finally spend some much anticipated alone time with your new toy. But wait, when you hook up your iPhone, you see an error message saying there could be a wait of up to 48 hours before activation. Forty-eight hours? Noooooo! [End scene].

Apple is putting a Band-Aid on the boo-boos of all the people who were hoping that the iPhone 3G S would be the solution to all their problems, and  were then horribly disappointed when they couldn't get it to work. It's still unconfirmed whether the problem was with Apple’s iTunes server, or with AT&T’s activation mechanism, but Apple is coming to the rescue with a $30 iTunes credit for 3G S buyers who couldn't activate their phones.

If you were one of the many people who experienced this problem, then look out for an e-mail from Apple. Here's a copy of the e-mail:

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

Did you experience this problem with your new iPhone 3G S? Did you get an e-mail from Apple yet? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via MacWorld and TechCrunch]