Will O2’s 3G iPhone pre-order shambles hurt it in the long run?

So then, fellow iPhone owners, how was your morning? If it was anything like mine, you spent several fruitless hours clicking, refreshing and swearing in an effort to upgrade and  bag a 3G model delivered to your door this Friday. Heaven knows how O2 managed to sell out, given the way its website seemingly collapsed under the strain.I managed to get to the ‘thanks for your order’ page once, but with no email confirmation, it doesn’t bode well. And there are thousands of people like me too, judging by the fury on the O2 customer forums, the Apple forums, and from a quick Summize search to see what people are Twittering about O2. Be warned, if you work for O2, none of the above make for comfortable reading.Naturally, conspiracy theories are doing the rounds. One says that new customers got all the 3G iPhones, because it means more dosh for O2 than simply upgrading existing customers. Another says all the stock is being kept back for stores this Friday, to ensure huge footfall in the shops. And another says that O2’s problem is that Apple has only given it [insert low number here] 3G iPhones, as some kind of punishment for the large number of unlocked first-gen iPhones in the UK.Who knows what’s true and what’s randomly made-up web lies? But the fact of the matter is, today has been a bit of a shambles for O2 in terms of customer service, through a combination of technical problems, poor communication, and misunderstanding on the part of its customers (many thought they’d guaranteed a 3G iPhone by pre-registering).The big question is what difference this makes in the long run. Will it hurt Apple? Probably not – most anger seems to be focused on O2, and in any case, the palaver only heightens the sense that the 3G iPhone is an in-demand handset – and don’t forget the slightly flat launch of the last model, which they won’t want to repeat.Does it hurt O2? It’ll be interesting to see how many people choose not to head down to their local O2 store on Friday morning – not least because it’s unclear whether you’ll even be able to upgrade in-store (some web rumours claim it’ll be new customers only). People may bide their time instead, until they can get an unlocked iPhone and run it with ABO (Anyone But O2).Realistically? The operator still wins – it’ll doubtless sell out for some months to come, and trouser a lot of new customers who’ve been waiting for the 3G iPhone, and won’t let launch-week gremlins put them off. But that shouldn’t stop O2 feeling the pressure to win back the goodwill of its existing customers.An email sent out to everyone who pre-registered explaining today’s problems, outlining clearly how they can upgrade this week (or being honest that they can’t, if that’s the case), and hell, saying sorry for the problems would be the least you’d expect. Fingers crossed for just such a thing tonight or tomorrow.In the meantime, here’s a crumb of comfort that I’m clinging to: the existing iPhones will still work with this Friday’s firmware update, and they’ll still be able to download games and applications from the new App Store. And who needs GPS anyway? *weeps*

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