Iphone 4s preorders
Iphone 4s preorders_ Apple Inc. on Friday faced its first test since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs as it began accepting pre-orders for its latest iPhone.
Apple and wireless carriers in the U.S. and a half-dozen other countries began taking Internet and telephone orders for the iPhone 4S in the pre-dawn hours.
AT&T Inc. said it had "more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours alone" making the iPhone 4S "the most successful iPhone launch we've ever had."
A Verizon Wireless spokesman said "our systems were humming very strongly since 3 a.m.," and that executives were "pleased with the sales and the ordering process."
Some customers in the U.S. reported difficulty accessing systems to order it online, but an Apple spokeswoman said, "everything's running smoothly."
The pre-orders came as Mr. Jobs's funeral was due to be held on Friday, according to a person familiar with the situation. Apple has said there are no public services planned for the company's former CEO.
Reaction to the 4S is critical for Apple, because it is an indication of whether the company can continue to generate desire for its devices. Smartphones are Apple's single-largest product category by revenue.
Consumer demand for the iPhone 4S could be shaped by an outpouring of emotion surrounding this week's death of Mr. Jobs. "I wanted to show support and help to knock initial sales out of the ballpark," said David Michael, 46, who stayed up until 2:15 a.m. attempting to order a white iPhone 4S.
Mr. Michael, who was drawn to the phone because of its upgraded camera, said he began attempting to order the new device when pre-sales began shortly after midnight from his home in California, but experienced problems on the Apple and AT&T Inc.'s websites but ended up placing an order.
Analysts had a more muted reaction to the phone after Apple introduced it on Tuesday, with some predicting the company lost potential customers by not changing the external design of the phone or calling it an iPhone 5. The newest iPhone has a similar look to its predecessor, but sports a faster microprocessor and new voice-activated software.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates Apple will sell 25 million handsets in the current quarter.
Apple is the world's single-largest maker of smartphones, but faces increased competition from companies supply phones running on Google Inc.'s Android software.
With the smartphone market expanding rapidly, analysts said any company's leadership could easily ebb and flow based on new partnerships, breakthrough technologies and consumer's preferences.
Nokia Corp. is working on new handsets that run Microsoft Corp. software, while Google is preparing to release an update to its Android software.
source:wsj
