Apple, carriers begin taking iPhone 4 pre-orders
updated 09:30 am EDT, Tue June 15, 2010
White models unavailable in US
Apple and carriers in several countries have opened up pre-orders for the iPhone 4, due to ship on June 24th. In the United States, online pre-orders can be made through the Apple Store or via AT&T. A 16GB phone costs $199 with a two-year contract, while a 32GB phone is $299. Also up for pre-order is an 8GB iPhone 3GS, priced at $99.
Sales have not been without trouble. Some Americans have reported an inability to get orders processed, apparently due to website server load. Validating an earlier leak, white models are also unavailable. The option is listed only as "coming soon" from AT&T, and Apple's website bears the disclaimer that the color is "currently unavailable for pre-order or in-store pickup."
Internationally, pre-orders are being taken in France, Germany, Japan and the UK. In these cases buyers may have the option of unlocked iPhones usable with any carrier; in the UK, for example, an unlocked 16GB iPhone 4 is £499, and a 32GB version is £599. In France, the same choices are €629 and €739, respectively.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2008
And, of course, AT&T's servers can't handle this.
Been trying to order for the past half hour. On the apple website, things c*** out once you get to the "Please wait while we access your AT&T account information." And after a couple minutes, you get this: "Your request couldn’t be processed. We’re sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later."
If you try to order directly from AT&T, it will start the process and tell you what you are eligible for, and once you select the new iphone, you get this lovely message: "There was a problem with your request. P1015: We're sorry, but we are experiencing a system error that prevents us from completing your request. For non iPhone related upgrades, please call Customer Care at 1-888-867-4384 and provide the error number at the beginning of this message."
Wow, a problem on the AT&T side? SHOCKING.
Or maybe they just didn't realize that more than 100 people would want to pre-order. In fact, maybe it was the same team that decides how many towers to build and where to put them.