Apple and several of its retail partners are now accepting preorders for the Apple iPhone 4.
The morning was a harried one, with pre-orders on the Apple site kicking off around the indecent hour of 4 a.m ET, and a crush of early visitors soon pushed the site into error-message territory, according to Daily Tech. Around 6 a.m. ET, Apple reportedly put up a “We’ll be back soon” virtual Post-it note, but approaching noon on the East Coast, the iPhone maker appeared to again have the situation in hand.
Visitors to the iPhone portion of the Apple site are offered the choice of reserving an iPhone 4 for pick-up at an Apple retail store – “When you come to pick it up, we’ll get you up and running in minutes,” the site promises – or ordering online. “We’ll ship it free – directly to your door and ready to use – on June 24.” Choose the order online option, however, and it’s quickly clear that preorders are limited to the black model – no dice on assuring timely access to a white iPhone 4.
Consumers may have better luck ordering through AT&T – though Daily Tech says don’t hold your breath for a white model there, either – or through RadioShack or Best Buy, which are also accepting preorders. (Best Buy preorders, note, are in-store only.)
Wal-Mart, a third retailer set to stock its shelves for the iPhone 4’s June 24 launch, is going the first-come, first-serve route.
In all cases, the iPhone 4 is priced at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model, and always with a new two-year contract with AT&T. RadioShack, however, is sweetening the deal by allowing customers to trade in older electronics toward the price of the iPhone 4.
Apple’s newest handset was introduced June 7 at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. It features a larger battery than than the iPhone 3G S, a thinner body, a front-facing camera for video conferencing and an improved camera on the back.
Showing off the device, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the WWDC attendees, “This is beyond doubt one of the most precise, beautiful things we’ve ever done.”
