For those who opted to order directly from Apple, the process was especially frustrating. Throughout the early morning, the , where you choose your phone and carrier, worked flawlessly. But if comments on Twitter—as well as my personal experience—were at all representative, the subsequent steps were anything but flawless.

Many users initially couldn’t get past the first few screens, which let you indicate whether you are a new or existing customer on the chosen carrier; after clicking Continue, the pages would simply reload. If they succeeded in getting past that screen, the next screen was often one that read, simply, “We’re sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later.” (I personally saw this screen at least ten times over a one-hour period trying to place my pre-order.)

(Image Caption: Image courtesy Twitter user @AndruEdwards)

Based on many conversation I’ve had via phone, email, and Twitter, this error screen appears to have been encountered most frequently by AT&T upgraders, and generally occurred during one of the phases where the Apple Store was communicating with AT&T’s servers to either verify upgrade eligibility or check voice and data plans. Although I haven’t been able to confirm this with either Apple or AT&T, this leads me to believe that AT&T’s servers were— —the culprit.

(Image Caption: Image courtesy Twitter user @RobWensing)