Apple and Verizon Wireless have been taking online pre-orders for the iPhone 4 off and on since Thursday amid heated demand. The crush of interest sold more phones for Verizon in the first two hours of sales last week than any other phone on the first day of launch.
And it all started again at 3 a.m. ET [Wednesday] as tens of thousands of callers were expected to jam Web sites in hopes of getting their hands on one of the smartphones.
Still, the two companies are bracing for lines of customers at their retail locations when the phones go on sale in their stores Thursday. No matter that Apple’s iPhone 5 is rumored just around the corner, roughly in June, and 4G phones sporting zippier data delivery are trickling into the market on popular Android-based smartphones.
This latest surge of interest is further testament to the runaway popularity of Apple’s iconic iPhone. It’s also a reflection of the enthusiasm for what’s perceived as a better phone carrier in Verizon. Dissatisfaction has simmered since Apple’s exclusive launch on AT&T’s network in 2007.
“There is substantial pent-up demand for the iPhone on Verizon,” says Richard Doherty, an analyst at The Envisioneering Group. “It’s the biggest tech hit of the decade, and people have to have it. It will probably set off some new kind of record for Verizon.”
Likely so, as reason doesn’t always come into play where Apple products are concerned. Interest alone, even obsession, in the hot-selling device may well tell the story of why consumers stuck with it for so long on AT&T despite widespread bandwidth bog. Apple fans need just one more reason to be first on the block with the next device. This time, that’s Verizon.
Sandy Rumsey of Hendersonville, N.C., waited years to get a Verizon iPhone. “It’s the greatest gadget…