Apple iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Sold Out; Where Else to Buy it?

Apple's newly released iPhone 4S (the 16GB version) has reportedly been completely sold out on Apple's online store, at BestBuy and with service providers AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. What that means is that if you still want to boast of having the new iPhone on the actual day of the launch, you will either have to shell out more money and order the 32GB or the 64GB version or queue up in front of Apple stores across the country.

In addition to the 16GB version being sold out, latest reports indicate that all three versions of the iPhone 4S have been sold out across all online stores, with the single exception of Sprint Nextel's Web site. The third-largest wireless service provider in the country still has stocks of the 32GB and 64GB versions of the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S' 16GB version was priced at $199; the 16GB and 32GB versions are priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

According to a notification on Apple Inc.'s Web site, where it once said that pre-ordered phones would ship on Oct. 14, the company says: Ships: 1-2 weeks.

Despite the disappointment that Apple has not yet launched the iPhone 5, the newly-launched iPhone 4S has received a tremendously positive response from the consumers.

AT&T, one of the three major U.S. carriers for the iPhone 4S, received over 200,000 preorders in just 12 hours. AT&T said the iPhone 4S release was the most successful launch of any iPhone on its network.

The number of iPhone 4S units available for pre-ordering has not been revealed by Apple.

A Mashable report said Apple fans who desperately want the new iPhone 4S from the very first day of its being available for sale have started camping outside Apple stores. According to the report there are already three people at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York. Two of them have been waiting for a total of 12 days.

This huge demand has been consistent across all pre-order points, not just AT&T and Apple. The other two carriers (Verizon and Sprint Nextel) supporting the iPhone 4S have also had a large number of customes pre-ordering the new smartphone.

Our systems were humming very strongly since 3 a.m., [and executives were] pleased with the sales and the ordering process, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)quoted a Verizon Wireless representative as saying.

However, neither Verizon Wireless nor Sprint have released pre-order figures at this point.

The new iPhone, with its 8 megapixel camera and a powerful new microprocessor, is supposed to break old sales records for Apple devices. The company holds a record of selling 1.7 million iPhones in three days, in June, 2010.

The WSJ report also quoted Gene Munster, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Jaffray, as estimating that Apple would sell 25 million handsets in the current quarter.

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