Carriers begin selling out of Sept. 21 delivery for Apple's iPhone 5 [u]

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.