Well that didn’t take long. Not even 24 hours after the iPhone 4 became available online for pre-order, it is completely sold out. Earlier today, reports had AT&T being out of the device. Now the Apple Online Store is out of them too. They’ll still let you pre-order one, but you won’t be getting it on June 24 (launch day). Instead, Apple is saying the next batch of phones will ship by July 2.
The fact that Apple blew through their entire first run of iPhone 4s in something like 20 hours is impressive any way you slice it. But it also begs the question: how fast would the device have sold out if the pre-order system actually worked today? I don’t think it’s a stretch to think the iPhone might have been gone twice as fast.
As we covered last night, when the iPhone 4 first went up for pre-order on Apple’s website, there were massive failures in the system that prevented people from completing their orders. Those failures carried into this morning and even this afternoon and people still were having difficulty ordering the phone. Some were able to order it from AT&T’s site, others weren’t. Some were able to order from the new iPhone Apple Store app, others weren’t.
The system seems to be running smoothly now, but again, if you place your order on Apple’s site, it will state that you phone will ship after launch. The July 2 date currently listed is just 8 days after the current June 24 launch — but that’s also the ship date, so it could arrive a few days after that.
Right now, if you’re hoping for an iPhone 4 before July, your best bet may be to hope Apple releases the elusive white iPhone 4 (which didn’t go up for pre-sale last night) into the wild before then. Or hope that Apple saved a few to sell in stores to those that didn’t pre-order.
Best Buy just announced that pre-sale orders of the iPhone 4 can be placed starting tomorrow, June 15. Apple. Pre-sale orders can be placed at any Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile standalone store nationwide.The iPhone 4 will be available for purchase at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores June 24.
The iPhone 4 was announced a few weeks ago during Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC. Its notable features are, of course, the extremely high resolution screen, video chat capability with FaceTime, and the new form factor.
Walmart will also be carrying the phone come June 24, but will not be accepting pre-order. And you can pre-prder your new iPhone through Apple starting June 15. Best Buy was also chosen to carry Apple’s iPad as well.
The new phone, which comes in black or white, costs $199 for a 16GB version and $299 for 32GB. The June 24th date is for the US, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK. The rest of the world will get it in July.
Yesterday we reported on a music-streaming iPhone application called Rdio that has been waiting for weeks to have an update approved by Apple. Now we’ve learned that this may be part of a new trend: MOG, the music portal that offers an impressive on-demand streaming music service, is also having issues with the App Store. MOG submitted its iPhone application over a month ago, and has heard nothing from Apple since. Phone calls and emails have gone unreturned. And the company is understandably getting nervous that Apple may be thinking of blocking the app.
MOG has a lot riding on its mobile applications — it just closed a new $9.5 million funding round, some of which is going toward expanding its mobile platform. At SXSW it held a press event to preview its iPhone and Android applications, and what it showcased was pretty impressive. For $10 a month, users can stream any song or album they want, and they can locally download entire albums to their phone (which will work even when they lose connectivity) in one tap.
It’s possible that Apple is concerned that MOG’s app is too good. If you listen (and pay for) a lot of music, MOG’s all-you-can-eat service can quickly pay for itself. And it makes tethering your iPhone to your PC every time you want to sync songs a thing of the past. Apple has long been been rumored to be working on its own cloud music service, especially since it acquired Lala last December, and may be worried about getting beaten to the punch. Thing is, Apple has already approved Rhapsody, which offers much of the same music streaming functionality (albeit without the full-album download button) and Spotify.
On the other hand, Apple may just be overwhelmed — it has the release of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 just around the corner, and now has to deal with developers who are upgrading their apps in time for the new OS launch.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this to see how it develops.
It seems like the entire United Kingdom (at least those who aren't out partying it up with Patsy Kensit at the Met Bar) has emailed us in the last two minutes to clue us in on the fact that O2 has posted its new
iPhone 4 pricing. It looks like your beloved "unlimited 3G" plans of are a thing of the past -- instead, you'll be paying for up to 1GB of data of month. As you approach the limit, a text message will notify you and let you purchase an 500MB for £5 or 1GB for £10. How very
AT&T of them, eh? But don't worry, kids!
Texting is still unlimited.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in... and we mean everyone.]
UK's O2 to impose 3G data limits for iPhone 4 users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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