Apple Issues Statement on iPhone 4 Pre-Order Problems

The first day of iPhone 4 sales was anything but smooth. Apple’s released a statement  apologizing for the frustrations its customers faced when pre-ordering the latest iPhone. So what caused Apple and AT&T’s pre-ordering system to crash and burn? Put simply, too many people wanted to be the first to get a new iPhone. Despite all of the problems, Apple successfully booked more than 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4. As we reported earlier, the iPhone 4 is currently sold out.

That’s right, even though Apple.com was not taking pre-orders for much of the day, Apple sold well over $120 million worth of iPhones in one day. We can only imagine how many pre-orders would have been placed if Apple and AT&T’s systems ran smoothly.

Here is the full, but brief, statement released by Apple:

Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.

Apple is no longer taking reservations for in-store pickup. Apple is taking iPhone 4 pre-orders for delivery, but it is listing the ship date as July 2, a week later than the original delivery date of June 24.  There will be an allotment of iPhones sold at Apple retail stores on a first-come first-serve basis according to Apple. This allotment may be limited to the number of canceled reservations however as it sounds like inventory is extremely tight.

AT&T has apparently halted pre-orders of the iPhone 4. As of 9:30am PDT, parts of the ATT.com account center are inaccessible for some users, who are being asked to log in repeatedly. Many blamed AT&T’s account system for causing yesterday’s iPhone pre-order disaster. All iPhone 4 resellers are required to check with AT&T’s system to determine pricing eligibility for both new and existing customers.

Here’s a guide to the Apple iPhone 4 if you’d like to learn more.