Phones

Verizon Sells Out First Round of iPhone Orders

Verizon sold out its first batch of CDMA iPhone 4s in less than 24 hours since it started taking pre-sale orders for current customers only. The carrier's servers barely made it through the presale ordering process after an onslaught of demand, which is not bad at all for a seven-month-old smartphone. But is Verizon ready to tackle queues of eager Apple fans on February 10, when it becomes available to everyone.

Verizon posted a message on its website (pictured) saying it is no longer taking pre-sale orders for the iPhone, enticing prospective customers to get theirs when it will be available online and in stores. Verizon's iPhone 4 went on sale via the Verizon website at 3 a.m. EST yesterday, taking 17 hours or so for the initial allocation of advance orders to get churned through.

The number of CDMA iPhones Apple and Verizon had available for order by existing customers is unknown, but reports point out that high traffic on the site caused Verizon's servers to stop responding at some point yesterday, only stabilizing at about 5 a.m. today. If this sounds familiar, it's because this happened to AT&T and Apple last year, too. Apple will take orders for the Verizon iPhone from its website beginning February 9.

With the first batch of CDMA iPhones on Verizon sold out, people can queue outside brick-and-mortar Apple and Verizon stores on February 10 to make their purchase. A uSamp survey found that 29 percent of AT&T users planning to switch to the Verizon iPhone are willing to stand in line on February 10, and also 24 percent of Android and BlackBerry users will line up for their iPhone on Verizon.

The first reviews of the Verizon iPhone were overwhelmingly positive, with the consensus that Verizon has more signal bars in more places than AT&T on the iPhone, with a main caveat: data speed is not as fast.

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