AppleInsider Staff
With Apple sold out of launch date inventory for the iPhone 5 in just over an hour, U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon saw their estimated arrival dates also begin to slip past Sept. 21 as of Friday afternoon.
As of Friday morning, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint were informing customers that their order would deliver by next Friday, the first day the iPhone 5 will be publicly available. That meant, for a brief time, that customers hoping to preorder the iPhone 5 for launch day could still preorder, as Apple was already sold out of its launch inventory.
Update: But after 11 a.m. Eastern on Friday, Verizon's advertised ship date slipped to Sept. 26 delivery, and AT&T said new orders would ship within two to three weeks. Sprint, however, still shows release-date deliver.
A number of customers also experienced a variety of problems having their orders go through. Carrier websites provided slow access due to the influx of traffic, while carrier customer support numbers also buckled in the face of high call volume.
It took just over an hour for Apple to run dry of its initial batch of iPhone 5 units. The company is now quoting a wait time of 2 weeks for new preorders.
Those who missed out on preorders can test their luck at a brick-and-mortar retail store for next Friday's launch. The iPhone 5 will be available at Apple's retail locations, as well as carriers AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, and resellers like Walmart, Radio Shack and others.
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
37 Comments
I'd love to know how many Apple sold in that hour.
I know they got $$$ from me at 3:12 this morning, EST.
I ordered at 12:01 am from Verizon. When I check the status, it says expected ship date is 9/26/12. HUH? Guess I'll see what happens next Friday.
Why is the fact that Apple is not selling unlocked iPhones in this launch not headline worthy? I need an unlocked no contract unlocked black AT&T 64GB iPhone 5 for $849 for myself not to resell. But the unlocked iPhone option is not in the Store. I want it so I can run it on the AT&T network under the http://ConsumerCellular.com radically lower no contract billing system. Just off the phone with Apple Sales who says they'll likely become available in a couple of weeks although she couldn't say for sure when. So here's hoping for October sometime before the end of Daylight Saving Time. ????
AT&T site (upgrader purchase flow) was not functioning for me from midnight to 2:30am, after that I just gave up trying.
Was able to order from AT&T at 6:30AM Pacific through my company employee discount program.
Got conformation e-mail:
"Your iPhone has been reserved and should arrive as soon as Sept 21, 2012."