Apple Sells 600,000 iPhones, Orders Suspended

If you were wondering why both Apple and AT&T melted down when taking orders for the iPhone 4 on Tuesday, we have the answer. Apple sold 600,000 of the things. According to Apple’s press release, “It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions.”

It wasn’t helped by AT&T’s new ordering system which, according to an AT&T insider was updated over the weekend with new fraud-prevention measures and then left untested before iPhone ordering opened. AT&T has issued a statement saying that on launch day, pre-order sales were “10-times higher than the first day of pre-ordering for the iPhone 3G S last year.” Now AT&T has “temporarily suspended” ordering for the iPhone 4.

You can still buy an iPhone 4 at Apple.com, although it appears you can only place orders for mail delivery. If you request an in-store pickup, the Apple.com ordering system will show you a list of nearby stores, but you cannot actually select one.

The crush of orders shouldn’t have come as a surprise to AT&T and Apple. All the iPhone 3G owners who held off buying the 3GS last year are now ready for an upgrade. The iPhone 4 got a terrific boost of pre-launch hype thanks to the April appearance of an iPhone prototype on gadget blog Gizmodo, which led to widespread mainstream media coverage. And AT&T has decided to let many 3GS owners upgrade early without penalty. You might think that this unholy combination would lead to a surge in demand, and you’d be dead right: On Tuesday there were 13 million visits to AT&T by customers checking their eligibility to upgrade.

What does this mean for you, the customer? Delivery dates have slipped again, this time to July 14th (launch day is June 24 and new orders were already delayed to July 2). And if you have already ordered, you may still be in for disappointment. Reports from Gadget Lab readers say AT&T is e-mailing customers to cancel their iPhone 4 orders, effectively forcing people to re-order and wait an additional three weeks for delivery. [UPDATE: AT&T got in touch. These cancelled orders are, in fact, just cancellations of duplicate orders some customers made when they didn't receive confirmations of their first orders.]

And this is in the United States. Countries that do not yet even have a launch date should be prepared for a long wait.

via Apple Sells 600,000 iPhones Despite ‘System Malfunctions,’ Orders Suspended | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.