Sony's European official forum now contains a post announcing that the PS3's firmware update is ready for download.

Posted at 11:13am today by 'Community Team Leader' Lestrade (we're not sure of that's a reference to the police detective in the Sherlock Holmes fictions - we hope not) the post reads:

"The PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™ ) system software version 2.41 is now available. With this update, the problem that has prevented a limited number of PS3 systems from activating properly after updating to version 2.40 has been fixed.

"If you have updated to version 2.40 and have experienced the problem that the XMB™(XrossMediaBar) is not appearing, or no images are displaying on the screen, please contact your local Customer Services (07805 99 88 77 in the UK - check any game manual for your region).

"If you have successfully updated to version 2.40 and are able to activate the PS3 system, this problem will not occur on your PS3.

"Apologies for any inconvenience caused, but thank you for your patience during the last few days.
Lestrade
Message Edited by Lestrade on 08-07-2008 11:13 AM"

We still like the use of 'limited number' - as it makes us feel comfortable that it wasn't every single PS3 owner who downloaded and installed version 2.40... we're not sure, however, what the number was limited to or by.