The iPhone 4S might have been something of a disappointment to some long time Apple followers who expected more from the company"s next smartphone, but that hasn"t slowed down interest in the device. AllThingsD.com reports that AT&T has already claimed that it has received 200,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in the space of just 12 hours on Friday. AT&T claims those numbers represent "the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had."
The high sale numbers came even as some customers had issues with completing their pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on Friday. Apple"s online store suffered through some errors as lots of traffic slammed the web site in the early morning hours.
This is the first time that a launch of an iPhone has occurred with three wireless carriers selling the product at the same time. Sprint is getting its first chance to sell an iPhone with the launch of the iPhone 4S. A Sprint spokesperson is quoted as saying that they were "very, very pleased" with the number of pre-order sales of the phone on Friday, adding, "Today’s sales and the overall customer experience greatly exceeded our expectations." Sprint did not give out specific sales numbers. Verizon has also yet to comment about its initial iPhone 4S sales; it started selling the iPhone earlier this year with its version of the iPhone 4.
Apple"s retail stores, along with the brick and mortar stores of all three of the iPhone 4S"s wireless carriers, will begin selling the smartphone on Friday, October 14. If history is any indication there might be long lines of people outside those stores on Friday morning.