In keeping with the reception afforded the iPad and earlier iPhones, Apple’s iPhone 4 went on sale Thursday to waiting crowds. The launch began in Japan, where available inventory sold out by the afternoon in the Tokyo flagship store of SoftBank, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier in that country. According to news reports, more than 300 people were lined up when sales opened.
The launch moved with the sun across the globe to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and then started selling at 7 a.m. local time in each U.S. time zone. In Paris, about 200 people were reported in line at the Apple Store in the Louvre complex. Some stores in Europe, such as France Telecom’s store on the Champs Elysees, opened at midnight to begin sales. Hundreds of people were reported in line when Apple’s Fifth Avenue store opened in New York.
One Million Today?
A key question is how long supplies will last, given that 600,000 orders on the first day of pre-orders overwhelmed the online order system and caused a temporary suspension.
Some observers are predicting that Apple could sell as many as one million iPhone 4s on Thursday, with two million or more by the end of the fiscal quarter that ends Saturday, and as many as 10 million by the end of the next quarter in September. Apple didn’t comment on inventory availability.
As with previous Apple launches, some determined buyers camped out the night before, although that often meant spending the night outside a mall. In Aventura, Fla., for instance, there were reports that about 120 people camped out in a parking lot near the mall containing the Apple Store.
The reasons cited by various buyers for wanting this particular iPhone included the higher-resolution screen, cameras on both sides that can permit video phone calls, multitasking, an updated operating…