No doubt, you’ve heard about Apple’s great meltdown today with the release of the new iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2.0 software.

So no, I don’t have a new iPhone 3G. I’m not in a hurry to get one. I waited 6 months to get my iPhone. I don’t feel a need to be first.

Unfortunately, I did feel a need to get the new iPhone 2.0 software. Why? It wasn’t the new Application download capabilities (though it’s nice and I’ve downloaded a couple). It was the fact that they finally added separate calendars to the calendar program and fixed a long standing gripe I’ve had about the mail reader where it couldn’t read forwarded emails. So when they posted the updated image yesterday on some of the typical Mac interest sites and no one complained of any problems, I went ahead and updated.

Bad idea to try to do anything in a way not sanctioned by Steve Jobs.

So the firmware that was distributed yesterday was different from the official release version of today. And the one distributed yesterday wedged my iPhone so solid overnight, I had to put it into recovery mode and reload from scratch. Then, what was already a painfully long recovery process got compounded by the fact that every iPhone user in the world (new and old) was trying to update and reactivate their iPhones too. ARRRGHHHH!

However, I finally got the right firmware file, did the right incantations, and at 4:15pm today, fully 8 hours after I discovered my iPhone was an iBrick, I had my phone properly upgraded.

I’m hoping it doesn’t crash again tonight.

Lesson learned - don’t be the first, don’t be impatient, and don’t do what Mr. Jobs says not to do.

Sigh.