The mad rush is on. I’ve been clicking on the Check for Update button in iTunes since yesterday in anticipation of the official release of the iPhone 2.0 software. This morning, shortly before 8:00 a.m. PST, iTunes finally changed it tune and stopped telling me that I had the latest version installed. Of course, I immediately told it to begin the installation process…much to my later regret.

Even though I don’t have an unlocked or jailbroken iPhone, the installation process was NOT smooth. Towards the end of the installation, iTunes attempted to access the iTunes Store, presumably for authentication purposes. However, I’m guessing that too many people are trying to do this at the same time. So, despite months of preparation, Apple cannot “complete [my] iTunes Store request.” And, instead of an upgraded iPhone, I now have a iPhone that can only be used to make emergency calls.

An unknown error occurred (-9836).
There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later.

So, if you are eager to get the latest iPhone 2.0 upgrade, I would suggest waiting for a few hours until Apple has resolved this issue. Else, you’ll be toting around a brick that can only be used for emergency calls–which isn’t a bad thing if you’re trying to avoid phone calls on a Friday.

Update: Now, I’m seeing this error message:

We could not complete your iTunes Store request.
An unknown error occurred (-4).

There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later.

10:13 AM: There’s no magic trick or solution. You have to keep trying. I headed off to work and plugged in the iPhone and it authenticated. So, I no longer have an iBrick. While the iTunes autosync’d all my contacts, photos and videos, I have not been able to move over the new Apps that I downloaded yesterday. I’m still seeing that -4 error.

strong>10:28 AM: In iTunes, I right-clicked on the iPhone and selected Sync and it brought my apps over. If you are using a one button mouse, that’s control-click.