Well, I did it...
But I think in this case there is a huge YMMV aspect to this rollout.
Here is what I did - details etc:
1. This is a brand new phone I got last Friday (my 4th), 7/29/11.
1.1 I had them flash it at the store right then (out of the box it was 1.001sp) to 1.002sp.
1.2 I barely used the phone tweaking-wise the whole weekend because I knew this was coming up (no rooting, uninstalling factory apps etc.)
2. This morning I did a dialer code reset (I had the presense of mind to ask the tech flashing my phone for the MSL
)
3. When the restart came up it saw an update available and started pulling it.
3.1 It downloaded 100%
3.2 It "upgade to new version" to 100%
3.3 Restarted with gingerbread on board
4. So now my phone DNA reads: software version 2.002sp, Android version 2.3.4
I did this over 3g (couldn't wait to get home), all told, about 40 minutes.
Like I said there might be a huge YMMV issue here and I intentionally had a virgin phone to update with, but it can be done. My guess is store flashing should be the first stop. And then a cold reset should be recommended.
Good luck
sabby