Apple, AT&T, Verizon exhaust iPhone 4s pre-order supplies

Computerworld - Apple, AT&T and Verizon have exhausted their pre-sale supplies of iPhone 4S available for delivery on Oct. 14, the day the firms will start selling the new smartphone at their retail stores.

By late Friday, Apple replaced the Oct. 14 delivery date for pre-ordered iPhone 4S phones with "Ships: 1-2 weeks."

Also on Friday, AT&T said it had sold 200,000 iPhone 4S smartphones in the first 12 hours of availability, and boasted of "extraordinary demand" that made the day "the most successful iPhone launch we've ever had."

As of Sunday, AT&T cited high demand when it told customers ordering the iPhone 4S through its website that their phones would ship in 21 to 28 days.

"To get iPhone 4S as soon as October 14, AT&T retail stores will have inventory available for eligible customers while supplies last," a message stated during the ordering process.

Also on Sunday, Verizon's site stated a delivery date of Oct. 21., while Sprint reported it had sold out of the lowest-priced 16GB iPhone 4S. Supplies of the more expensive 32GB and 64GB were still available from Sprint for delivery Oct. 14 or Oct. 15.

The sell-out wasn't unusual.

Last year, Apple and AT&T -- at that time the only U.S. carrier authorized to sell the iPhone -- ran through their iPhone 4 inventories the first day of online pre-sales.

In 2010, Apple said that it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 smartphones from the start of pre-orders on June 15 through June 26, three days after the new model reached retail.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

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