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Apple was still not commenting late last night, but a spokesman for AT&T, the network on which the device is available in the US, was quoted as saying there was a "global problem" with Apple's iTunes software that had prevent phones from being properly activated.

It was unclear how many customers were affected by the problem. Many UK customers whose devices were activated in store by O2 and Apple staff reported being able to use it straight away.

As the initial delays in selling iPhones in the UK subsided, O2 was selling more than 40 iPhones an hour - more mobile phones that most of its stores sell in a day, according to a spokeswoman.

But supplies of the more desirable, faster 16Gb version quickly ran out across the country. O2 had warned that it only had, on average, a few dozens phones per store to sell but frustrated customers vented their anger over the short supply of the coveted phones.

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Simon Byrne, a director of an online design agency and an existing iPhone customer, said he had pre-registered his interest and was told he would be “one of the first to own the new iPhone”.

He queued at his local O2 store in Basingstoke, Hampshire, only to be told after two hours that the supply of 16Gb phones had run out.

“The way the iPhone 3G has been launched in the UK is nothing short of scandalous. To say I have been messed around is quite an understatement. And I am most certainly not the only one,” he said.

The launch of the new iPhone in 21 countries across the world began in New Zealand and rolled out across the world with big queues reported in Australia, Japan and Europe.

In America, thousands queued for their new phones but within hours many were being sent home unable to use them because of the activation failure.

A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple Inc.'s iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.

Instead, employees were telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe said.

At Apple's flagship store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, customers were waiting at the counter for at least 20 minutes to get their new phones activated.

The problem extended to owners of the previous iPhone model. A software update released for that phone on Friday morning required the phone to be reactivated through iTunes.

"It's a mess," said freelance photographer Giovanni Cipriano, who updated his first-generation iPhone only to find it unusable.

In the UK O2 said that it would get more deliveries of iPhones next week and that it hoped that all who wanted the new phone would have one by the end of August.

The updated version of the combined iPod, mobile phone and internet browser features a high-speed internet connection and GPS satellite positioning.

It costs substantially less than its £269 predecessor but is still available in the UK only from O2, Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores, and will work only on the O2 network.

O2 and the Carphone Warehouse are giving away the 8Gb version of the iPhone to customers who sign up to tariffs costing £45 or £75 a month. The gadgets will cost between £59 and £159 for customers on other tariffs.

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