LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The next generation of Apple iPhone 3G went on sale on Friday, but a software glitch prevented customers from getting the device to work.

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

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

    When the first iPhone went on sale a year ago, customers performed the whole activation procedure at home, off-loading employees. But the new model is subsidized by carriers, as is standard in the wireless industry, and Apple and AT&T therefore planned to activate all phones in-store.

    The new iPhone, more a pocket PC than a cell phone, will run on a faster network. That means users will finally be able to experience speedy Web access, the device's forte. It also comes at reduced prices -- 199 and 299 dollars, depending on the amount of memory. The iPhones, though, will come attached with more expensive, two-year AT&T service contracts.

    Users will be able to download cheap or free applications from Apple's new App Store. The features will enable users to find restaurants on the run, to play video games and get nearly real-time Major League Baseball updates.

    Apple rolled out its next-generation iPhone across 22 countries, with the aim of positioning itself as a leading maker of pocket PCs at a pivotal moment in the worldwide smart-phone market.

    Apple, still a relatively small player in the smart-phone industry, is hoping to innovate its way into the pockets of consumers around the world with a lower-priced iPhone that for the first time is engineered to run on a faster 3G network. By year's end, the iPhone will be sold in 70 countries.