Apple said on Wednesday that it and its partners took more than 600,000 orders on Tuesday for its new iPhone 4, which will be released next week. AT&T, its wireless partner in the United States, said it was suspending preorders for the phone.
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“It was the largest number of preorders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions,” Apple said in a statement. “Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.”
The Web sites of both Apple and AT&T were overwhelmed by the demand on Tuesday, and AT&T could not process electronic orders at its stores for much of the day. Although Apple is still accepting preorders online, its Web site no longer promises delivery on the phone’s release date, June 24. Customers who place an order online on Wednesday may receive their phones on July 2.
Mark Siegal, an AT&T spokesman, said preorder sales for the iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than on the first day the iPhone 3GS was available for ordering last June. He said AT&T would suspend new orders for the time being.
“Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we’re suspending preordering today in order to fulfill the orders we’ve already received,” Mr. Siegal said. “The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking preorders.”
Mr. Siegal said more than 13 million people visited AT&T’s Web site on Tuesday to see if they were eligible to upgrade to the new phone, roughly three times higher that the company’s previous record.
Source: NYTimes
