iPhone 4 available for pre-order, but you may still have to wait

June 15, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

Many a technophile awoke this morning with visions of iPhone 4 pre-ordering in their head. Before brushing their teeth or even using the restroom, they powered up their computer and headed straight for the Apple Store online. They clicked the Pre-order button and….that was it.

While some may have been lucky enough to get through, many others have been met only with the disappointing image shown below. So what’t going on with the Apple website? Well, no worries. You can do it through AT&T’s website, too. Or can you? Many are waking up to find that AT&T has a shiny hyperlinked graphic that only takes them to….the old iPhone.

Of course, we gave it a shot on our own. After receiving the error message above 15-20 times on the Apple Store’s website, we were finally able to get through to the product information page. Unfortunately, it only rendered the HTML portions of the page, which, for many, makes it unnavigable. We were able to select the 16GB iPhone 4, which was listed as $399. From there, it prompted us to enter our AT&T account information to verify eligibility.

But wait! Wasn’t the Apple Store selling iPhones without the requirement to activate them? This is what was published several months ago. We’re dedicated, though, so we forged ahead. We put in our information and the Apple Store was able to connect to our AT&T account. Alas, we then received an error saying that our transaction couldn’t be completed and that we should visit an Apple Store.

In the interest of really testing the whole pre-order system out, we didn’t give up. If you can’t go in the front door, you can try via the service entrance, right? We took this route and logged directly into our AT&T account online and selected the upgrade a device option. We were transported to the main page showing all devices and includes the shiny graphic below.

Of course, we clicked on it. Once again, though, we were transported only to the land of confusion. The devices shown on the resulting page contain only the iPhone 3GS and 3G models. We did receive a message at the top of the page indicating, “You can take advantage of our no commitment pricing. Additional discounts may be available on….” This means that the iPhone 4 should at least be shown on the page, with the option to buy it at full price. This seems logical. We’re not crazy, right?

After trying it several times and meeting the same result, we resolved ourselves to undertake the last resort of any AT&T customer….contacting Customer Service. Firm in our resolve to pre-order, we dialed 611 and were met with the message that AT&T was receiving an unusually high volume of calls. Wow, go figure, right?! Anyway, we’re committed (or perhaps we should be after all of this effort). We waited….and waited…and waited. Then, we waited some more. Finally, after exactly 21 minutes and 3 seconds on hold, we heard the friendly voice of an AT&T foot soldier.

Yes! We were there. We could now pre-order it over the phone, at the full price and with no contract, right? Unfortunately, this story doesn’t end that happily. The representative was kind enough to apologize for the problems and informed us AT&T’s system is still in the process of updating. She assured us that, once the entire system is updated, the devices will be available for pre-order.

Just to test her theory and ensure it was simply because we weren’t eligible (or willing) to upgrade our device and extend the contract, we had another AT&T customer who is eligible for the iPhone 4 upgrade log in. He met with the same result. Once again, the hyperlinked, shiny iPhone 4 graphic resolves to….old iPhones.

(Update: We’ve seen the iPhone 4 become available on the AT&T website. This is true if you can get in at all. Even those who are logging in find that every step either takes forever or times out, altogether. We also called AT&T back and a representative informed us that preorders for the iPhone 4 were not being accepted over the phone. He did inform us that we could pre-order in person at AT&T stores, Best Buy, and Radio Shack. He also threw in that customers could order via the AT&T and Apple websites, which seemed to indicate that he didn’t listen to our explanation of why we called in the first place.)

So, it looks like we’ll just have to be patient. Whether ordering through the Apple Store online or AT&T’s website, there are some difficulties right now. Hopefully, as the day goes on, AT&T’s systems will be updated, so there are two avenues for potential buyers. For that matter, let’s hope the Apple Store comes up at all. For now, at least, patience and persistence may be the key. If it’s any solace, it’s only the first day. The iPhone 4 doesn’t ship until June 24th, so we still have a few days before we transition into panic mode.

If you read this whole post and have no idea what all of the fuss is about, you can see the complete list of iOS 4-powered iPhone 4 features and specs here.

Was your experience different? Were you able to pre-order the iPhone 4 through Apple or AT&T? Tell us your story, via comment. We’d love to hear it!

Where we tried and failed (at least for this morning):

Apple Store Online – iPhone 4 Pre-order Page

AT&T Wireless Online

joe says:

June 15, 2010 at 8:32 am

For the record, I have had the exact same experiences as you at the apple and the att sites. I am at the end of a 2 year iphone 3g contract.

jkb says:

June 15, 2010 at 9:43 am

Exactly the same experience. It’s now 9:40am here and I’ve been at it since 4:06am. Managed to secure a reservation for pickup at my local apple store but the online store purchase did not go through due to “security measures” on my account. AT&T Corporate says that’s because Apple’s security site is crashing so everyone’s account has impassable “sercurity measures”. What lame planning for what everyone knew would be a flood of pre-orders!