The launch of Apple Inc.'s new iPhone became an information-technology meltdown on Friday, as customers were unable to get their phones working.

A spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the United States, was quoted Saturday by the Associated Press as saying that there was a global problem with Apple's iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.

Instead, employees were telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe was cited as saying.

However, the iTunes servers were equally hard to reach from home, leaving the phones unusable except for emergency calls.

The problem extended to owners of the previous iPhone model. A software update released for that phone on Friday morning required the phone to be reactivated through iTunes.

The new phone went on sale in 21 countries on Friday, creating a global burden on the iTunes servers, said the AP.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2008)