Hundreds waited in line at stores across Europe for the new iPhone 3G on Friday, and retailers sold out before stores in the United States even opened, Apple Insider reported.

Free Swiss daily 20 Minuten reported that a mobile phone provider opened 100 stories at 6:30 a.m. and served food to those waiting in line.

Other stores in Bern, such as Globus (which has a Swisscom store inside), Mobilezone, and Data Quest, were all sold out by early afternoon, 20 Minuten reported, according to Apple Insider.

But the launch wasn't as rosy a picture as Apple Insider painted, with the Times Online running the headline “iPocalypse: iTunes failure brings iPhone launch chaos,” and reporting that a glitch in Apple's computer system left tens of thousands of buyers unable to activate their new phones.

Customers waited outside stores through the night to buy a new phone, only to discover the phones would not work. The UK's exclusive carrier, O2, had a separate problem, in which O2 registration software failed. Additionally, Apple's Web site had a problem, affecting mainly the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, in which a new version of iTunes could not be downloaded, the Times Online reported.

In New York, fanfare was not what it had been for the original iPhone launch, but there was a considerable queue, outside the Apple store's door and around a couple of corners, PC Magazine reported.