Here comes the iPocalypse

Apple (and especially its marketing department) should think twice about knocking Microsoft in the future over a not-so-smooth product launch.

They've totally botched the launch of the iPhone 3G:

Long lines of disgruntled customers wrapped around city blocks across the globe today as Apple scrambled to fix a glitch in iTunes that prevented iPhone acolytes from activating the next-generation phones they had waited hours, even days, to buy.

The problem caused huge delays at Apple stores and other iPhone service providers worldwide, as store personnel wrestled with the issue and word of the problem spread on the Web. In order for an iPhone to be activated, it must be synced up with iTunes.

Oh, darn.

Robbie Sikander, a 16-year-old New York resident from Afghanistan, waited in line for three hours at the Apple store on Manhattan's 5th Avenue for the chance to buy his phone, but because of delays, it never happened.

"I've been waiting for three hours. AT&T is just not working," Sikander told ABCNews.com as he walked out of the store. "It made me question Apple. ... "I'm going to come back after lunch to try again."

High expectations + failure to launch = angry, frustrated customers.

Tanya Lawrence, a 28-year-old woman from Brooklyn, began waiting in line at 7 a.m. on Friday and was inside the store by 9 a.m. The system, however, was down.

"I was so livid. It was so anticlmatic this morning," she said.

"The server was down, so in order to activate the phone we had to log on to iTunes, but that was down too. The buzz word this morning was 'just be patient.'"

In short, the iPhone 3G launch is a disaster.

If you already own an iPhone, wait to upgrade to the new firmware. If you don't, you run the risk of having your phone turn into a useless plastic brick.