What's wrong with my iPhone? And how can I fix it?

Hey.

I've bought my iPhone on September of 2007. I've used it till September 2008 and nothing was wrong with it. Then I *idiotically* plugged it on to my laptop, in hope of syncing songs on it. Then when I came back to fix it on like October nothing seemed to work. So I got busy and never got to take it to the store & fix it. Today some people were talking about iPhones and pointed out that I have one, and that I should fix it. I thought of fixing it again but this is what I did/got:

1. I got my iPhone and I put a SIM card in it.

2. I put the PIN code in.

3. I plugged it to my laptop.

4. Then a little thing popped and said "Waiting for iPhone". I waited.

5. Then it said that the SIM card wasn't 'compatible'.

So.. What does that mean?

Also, the regular iPhone menu doesn't show. There's just a picture of iTunes & the Apple wire. And the scroll thing for "emergency calls".