AppleInsider Staff
Continued demand for Apple's new iPhone 5 has caused shipping times to slip to 3-4 weeks from the Online Apple Store, with partner carriers seeing similar delays.
After a crush of pre-orders quickly ate through Apple's first batch of iPhone 5 units last Friday, demand for the new device remains strong as the company is continuing to push back shipping times as more orders pile in.
The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant announced on Monday that the iPhone 5 saw over two million pre-orders in its first 24 hours of availability, while AT&T posted record numbers but failed to offer specifics.
Pre-orders opened on Friday at midnight Pacific time with such high interest that the Apple Online Store burned through its stock in an hour. The company issued a statement later that day saying, “Pre-orders for iPhone 5 have been incredible. We’ve been completely blown away by the customer response.â€
The websites of Apple's U.S. partner carriers AT&T and Verizon also show stockouts with both telecoms quoting delivery dates in two to three weeks for all iPhone 5 models. Shipment times for Sprint, the last of the "big three" U.S. wireless carriers to sell out of its initial allotment, have also slipped, though the 32GB and 64GB versions are only delayed one week.
While shipments are already in transit to select customers, the iPhone 5 will officially launch in nine countries on Friday as part of the fastest product rollout in Apple history.
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Andrew Orr
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
26 Comments
Better to be further back and arrive early as a pleasant surprise than to promise too soon and arrive late.
Lets see how fast the stores sell out on Friday. Few hours at best then theres a wait.
I'm fairly sure Apple will not fail to deliver by the projected dates (that is the one thing everyone seems to agree that Tim Cook is good at,) but I am starting to wonder if they are going to be rather precise, with very little welcome surprises. I got the Oct. 5th date, and it is yet to ship. I suppose it could be a week early (and I am seriously hoping it will be,) but I'm starting to come to the realization that... sigh... the "ships in two weeks" might have been sincere. :(
I'm fairly sure Apple will not fail to deliver by the projected dates (that is the one thing everyone seems to agree that Tim Cook is good at,) but I am starting to wonder if they are going to be rather precise, with very little welcome surprises. I got the Oct. 5th date, and it is yet to ship. I suppose it could be a week early (and I am seriously hoping it will be,) but I'm starting to come to the realization that... sigh... the "ships in two weeks" might have been sincere.
That's how it's looking to me. I ordered mine within 10 minutes of the start of pre-orders, and they are still showing as deliverying on 9/21-9/25 (current status is "Preparing for Shipment").
Wonder how many sales Apple loose due to having no stock available? There are many people right at this time that are now at the end of 2 year contract cycles.
Reminds me of the iPhone 4 launch, it took a good few months for supplies to settle.