iPhone 4 pre-order gets off to slightly choppy start
Apple began taking pre-orders for its latest iPhone on Tuesday morning. But the iPhone 4 pre-order forms apparently – and temporarily – crumpled under a handful of glitches.
The iPhone 4 is seen in San Francisco. On Tuesday, the iPhone 4 pre-order blitz began. But the Apple Store reportedly crashed for at least an hour under heavy traffic pressure.
Newscom
Early adopters, take your mark. On Tuesday morning, Apple began taking pre-orders for the much-hyped iPhone 4, the boxy, feature-heavy successor to the iPhone 3G S. As of 9 a.m., Apple was only accepting pre-orders for two iPhone 4 models, both in black: The 16 GB handset, which is priced at $199 with a contract, and the 32 GB handset, which will retail for $299. Apple said pre-ordered iPhones should ship by June 24.
The iPhone 4 pre-order launch did not go off without a few snags. At 6 a.m., Computerworld bloggers reported that the the US Apple store was flashing error messages. The site apparently went down for at least an hour, and was back up at 8 a.m., at which point Computerworld staff successfully pre-ordered an iPhone 4. Meanwhile, the Register reported that the UK Apple Store had apparently crumpled under heavy traffic.
For our part, we found the Apple Store to be a bit slow, but we managed to click through to the iPhone 4 pre-order screens without much hassle. No word yet on when Apple will begin pre-selling the iPhone 4 in white, but we expect that option should be added to the site within the next week or so.
Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 4 at the WWDC conference in San Francisco last week. Although reviewers have not yet been given the chance to put the iPhone 4 through its full paces, early buzz is positive. Of especial interest is a range of features unique to the iPhone 4, including a gyroscope, for improved gaming motion control, and an HD video camera.
As expected, Apple has announced that it will drop the price of the iPhone 3G S to $99. Trying to decide whether to buy an iPhone 3G or whether to pre-order an iPhone 4? Check out our handy side-by-side comparison.
Editor's note: The original version of this story misstated the capacity of the $199 iPhone 4. It can hold 16 GB of information.