Apple’s newest iPhone is already flying through the sales channels through pre-orders. Just hours after the midnight (Pacific Time) Sept. 14 opening to the public, the tech giant pushed back delivery time on the iPhone 5 from one week to two.
There were reports that Apple had stopped taking pre-orders altogether, but as of Friday afternoon we were able to go through the process online without being told of any issues. A call to Apple’s hotline, however, yielded only an apologetic message about high call volume.
The iPhone 5 is also available for pre-order from Best Buy, Walmart and other retailers, as well as from Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel. Lines form at stores on Sept. 21. Analysts estimate that Apple can expect to sell 50 million iPhone 5s by the end of the quarter and year.
Son of a Glitch?
Given the history of iPhone glitches, such as the antenna issue that prevented Consumer Reports from recommending the iPhone 4, some consumers may choose to wait until the first 10 million or 20 million customers field-test the iPhone 5.
But wireless analyst Gerry Purdy of MobileTrax told us the high volume expected by Apple, plus the fact that it is not a major redesign of the product — though it is thinner, lighter and taller — suggests that glitches are unlikely.
“This is a refresh of the product, rather than a revolution or innovative product,” Purdy said. “They wouldn’t be into a run-rate of — to be conservative — 40 or 50 million units unless they felt it was pretty stable.”
He added that concern about potential glitches or malfunctions has likely kept Apple making only incremental improvements in the device, including the increased screen size and a radio for long-term evolution high-speed data. Expectations for near-field communication for mobile payments, however, fell short.
“In…
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