It’s official: Apple’s iPhone 4 is now on sale
Posted Thu, Jun 24, 2010 by Maria Shendel Alc...
As announced previously, the latest version of Apple’s iPhone, which is known as the iPhone 4, was released for the first time today, Thursday, June 24.
Thousands of people, most of whom are probably techies, endured the scorching heat while waiting outside the Apple stores located in Fifth Avenue and West 14th Street in New York. Prior to the stores’ opening, people were seen good-naturedly lining up and waiting as they waited for the clocks to chime 7:00am.
The lines were viciously long. It was only 10 o’clock in the morning when the procession of people outside the Apple store at West 14th Street and Ninth Avenue stretched all way to 10th Avenue. A few Apple fanatics claimed they arrive outside the store before dawn. Some said they called in sick at work so they could get the chance to grab an iPhone 4. And there were some who stated they’ve been waiting more than eight hours. Just to get their hands on a smartphone.
Apple’s iPhone 4 release is definitely a big success. In fact, it has been deemed a success prior to the smartphone’s actual release. Apple, together with the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. carrier, AT&T, started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4 on June 15. However, the iPhone 4 was only available for pre-order in black. Apple has recently released a statement saying the white iPhone 4 will not be available until the second half of July as it was proving more “challenging to manufacture”.
Unexpectedly, hundreds of thousands of people rushed online to pre-order the device. The unforeseen number of people simultaneously trying to access the online pre-order forms caused the online ordering systems to collapse. The U.S. and U.K online Apple stores crashed due to the unusual surge in web traffic. The same thing happened with AT&T as well as with Softbank, Apple’s exclusive partner in Japan. Of course, a significant number of customers were frustrated. Some even got mad.
Much earlier than expected, AT&T stopped taking pre-orders and Apple started apologizing to its customers. Apple said the demand for the iPhone 4 was far higher than what they had anticipated. In 24 hours, more or less, Apple and AT&T had already processed more than 600,000 iPhone 4 pre-orders.
The iPhone 4 is priced at $199 for a 16GB model and $299 for a 32GB model, with two-year data plans. It went on sale today in 4 countries. It will be launched in 17 or 18 more countries at the end of July.
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