AT&T temporarily halts iPhone 4, 3GS pre-orders
updated 10:55 am EDT, Wed June 16, 2010
System may not have been tested
AT&T has "temporarily suspended" iPhone 4 and 8GB iPhone 3GS pre-orders, according to a message on the carrier's website. The company has been unable to cope with the demand so far, resulting in many web requests timing out. On top of this it has received numerous complaints of privacy leaks, which involved the wrong person's information being displayed after logging into an account.
A memo reported to be circulating internally at AT&T explains that the company cut off pre-orders after midnight, and now has a "special team" handling all requests from June 15th that were left pending. "Under no circumstances should new pre-orders be attempted in the system," the memo remarks. There is no indication of when pre-orders might resume.
A source at a third-party company processing the orders claims that AT&T did not test the system beforehand, leaving it unprepared for the public's onslaught. If accurate, the claim suggests a lack of foresight on AT&T's part, as the demand for iPhones in the US has always been intense since original model's launch in 2007.
Demand for the iPhone 4 is said to be nearly as high in some other countries. Germany's Deutsche Telekom explains that it had "severe issues" with online orders on Tuesday, a consequence of interest 10 times higher than it had for the iPhone 3GS launch. Similar issues are said to have developed in the UK and Japan, with France remaining relatively stable.
