MacRumors

Apple has just issued a press release announcing 600,000 pre-orders for iPhone 4 yesterday, "far higher" than the company anticipated. In the release, the company also apologizes for the frustration and difficulties experienced by those attempting to pre-order.

Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.

Earlier today, several iPhone carrier partners had indicated iPhone 4 traffic and pre-order volume ten times that of last year's iPhone 3GS launch. AT&T reported today that it had accepted 10-times the number of pre-order sales on the first day compared to the iPhone 3GS which went on sale last year.

Just one day after beginning to accept pre-orders, the iPhone 4 seems to be a huge success. While Apple and AT&T server problems and a quick sellout of the iPhone 4 have suggested a huge response to the new device, we weren't entirely sure if these problems were due to internal glitches and short supply rather than an actual increase of popularity.

But, as noted by Macerkopf.de, Germany's Deutsche Telekom twitter account confirms that there was been a 10-fold increase in traffic on their website for the iPhone 4 launch as compared to last year's iPhone 3GS launch. Also, in contrast, the AT&T's allotment of iPhone 3GS pre-orders sold out in about 5 days compared to less than 1 day this time.

All of the evidence of strong demand is grabbing the attention of Wall Street analysts as well, with Fortune reporting that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has raised his estimate for iPhone sales for the current quarter from 8.5 million to 9.5 million. Munster's increased estimate comes despite the fact that the iPhone 4 will only actually be available for the final six days of the quarter and with new pre-orders already being pushed into next quarter.

Update: As noted by Silicon Alley Insider, AT&T is also claiming a ten-fold increase in pre-orders over the iPhone 3GS.

iPhone 4 pre-order sales yesterday were 10-times higher than the first day of pre-ordering for the iPhone 3G S last year. Consumers are clearly excited about iPhone 4, AT&T's more affordable data plans and our early upgrade pricing.

Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we're suspending pre-ordering today in order to fulfill the orders we've already received.

The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking pre-orders.

While AT&T and Apple have both sold out of their launch day allotments for iPhone 4 in the United States, customers are undoubtedly still trying to join the queue of pre-orders scheduled for later shipping dates. According to Boy Genius Report, however, those customers looking to pre-order an iPhone 4 or 3GS today may want to avoid AT&T's direct sales channels, as the company has reportedly temporarily suspended all new pre-orders as it attempts to work through the backlog from yesterday's demand.

Pre-orders for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS 8GB are Temporarily Suspended

Effective close of business on June 15, 2010, the ability to place pre-orders (new activations, upgrades and exchanges) has been temporarily suspended. There is a special team that will be manually working all pre-orders from June 15th that were held in a pending status. Under no circumstances should new pre-orders be attempted in the system.

This suspension impacts Phoenix, Premier, OPUS (COR), and System X (DMDR).

Please stay tuned to future bulletin communications for any updates.

U.S. customers looking to pre-order through Apple are currently facing shipping estimates of July 2nd for both iPhone 4 models available at the moment. The company should also be reserving some stock for walk-in sales at its retail stores on the June 24th launch day, although those should quickly sell out and will likely require a significant wait in line for those looking to purchase on launch day without a reservation.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off on Tuesday with a number of prominent announcements from the likes of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. Historically, E3 has never been much of a venue for Apple-related news, though things have changed slightly over the past year. Not to say the event isn't overwhelmingly dominated by console-related news and titles, but here are a few items that may be of interest to Apple-followers.

Steam's arrival on the Mac means that Valve's future titles will all be simultaneously released for the Mac as well. The most anticipated of those is Portal 2. Since Valve gave everyone a free copy of Portal during Steam's launch, you all should be familiar with the title by now. Valve released a teaser trailer for the sequel which is due in 2011:

The iPhone and iPod Touch have also made great strides as portable gaming devices with a number of prominent game companies now targeting the App Store.

- Square-Enix announced that Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of Lions and Secret of Mana will be coming to the App Store later this year.
- Capcom is reviving arcade shooter 1942: First Strike for the iPhone.
- SEGA is bringing Sonic 4 to the iPhone as well as Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, and Wiiware.

Following in AT&T's footsteps, Apple has sold out of the initial allotment of iPhone 4s for launch day. The Apple online store now lists July 2nd as the earliest ship date that you can receive an iPhone 4.

Stores may still have stock on launch day for walk-in traffic, but it seems the allotment for pre-orders has been filled. The iPhone 4 will launch on June 24th, 2010.

BoyGenius reports that all of the AT&T pre-order iPhones have been allotted already. Engadget received a statement from AT&T confirming the sellout:

"Because of the incredible interest in iPhone 4, today was the busiest online sales day in AT&T history. As of Tuesday afternoon, customers who preorder iPhone 4 moving forward will receive their device on June 25 or later, depending on when the order is placed. We'll email customers with confirmation once their order is placed, and again when it ships. In addition, we will have devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis in our stores beginning on June 24."

Apple's own U.S. website still shows ship dates of June 24th if you pre-order now.

We've also heard reports from international customers that local Apple Stores in the UK and Germany's T-Mobile are also sold out of the launch day iPhone 4s.

Apple today released Mac OS X 10.6.4, the fourth maintenance update for Snow Leopard, via Software Update. The update offers a number of fixes implemented since the release of Mac OS X 10.6.3 in late March.

The 10.6.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It includes Safari 5 and general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

- resolve an issue that causes the keyboard or trackpad to become unresponsive
- resolve an issue that may prevent some Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications from opening
- address issues copying, renaming, or deleting files on SMB file servers
- improve reliability of VPN connections
- resolve a playback issue in DVD Player when using Good Quality deinterlacing
- resolve an issue editing photos with iPhoto or Aperture in full screen view
- improve compatibility with some braille displays

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4150.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Just yesterday, Apple seeded Build 10F569 of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to developers.

- Mac OS X v10.6.4 Update (607.21 MB)
- Mac OS X v10.6.4 Update (Combo) (887.37 MB)
- Mac OS X Server v10.6.4 Update (615.60 MB)
- Mac OS X Server v10.6.4 Update (Combo) (1.05 GB)

Apple also released a pair of Mac OS X 10.6.4 updates specifically for the company's new Mac mini released earlier today.

- Mac OS X v10.6.4 Update Mac mini (Mid 2010) (403.38 MB)
- Mac OS X Server v10.6.4 Update Mac mini (Mid 2010) (411.72 MB)

Finally, Apple released Security Update 2010-004 for users on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

- Security Update 2010-004 (Leopard-Client) (222 MB)
- Security Update 2010-004 (Leopard-Server) (380.29 MB)

In an interview on CNBC today, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson spent a considerable amount of time discussing the carrier's relationship with Apple, initially focusing on the iPad and its strong adoption, particularly among business users.

I think this is going to be really a significant product for enterprise. You think about, you know, our objective is just to mobilize everything. Whether it's in the home or the workplace, this is a device that really lets you think differently about mobilizing all of the applications that you see in business. And we're getting a strong interest from our large business customers on bringing this device into their environments, and whether it's working with the salesforce, whether it's order takers, any number of areas, are really excited about bringing this device in.

Near the end of the interview, the conversation turned back to the company's wireless network, and persistent voice quality issues that have been plaguing the company in certain markets. Stephenson acknowledged the issues caused by "impressive" customer adoption in those locations and noted that the company feels that voice quality is "getting to where it should be".

The uptake and the demand was dramatic, and there are particular markets like New York. The demand was really impressive, and it had an effect on voice quality. We have been going hard at the voice quality issue in New York, and made tremendous progress. And so, we're getting to a point where voice quality is getting to where it should be, and mobile broadband is the fastest in the nation. as measured by any number of independent people.

AT&T has repeatedly claimed that it is investing heavily in areas like Manhattan and San Francisco that have been seeing performance issues, and while the company's call service has continued to receive less-than-stellar marks.

Now into the afternoon on the East Coast of the United States, Apple and AT&T are continuing to experience massive difficulties accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4. As we noted earlier, Apple's own site has been throwing up errors for much of the day, but the primary problem appears to be AT&T's servers, which have reportedly completely collapsed under the deluge of requests.

Gizmodo has been staying on top of the issues all day, sharing reports of AT&T stores resorting to pen and paper for taking down customer information or even closing all together. Some customers have even reportedly attempted to log into their AT&T accounts only to find themselves viewing account for information for other customers, creating significant security concerns.

Customers hoping to bypass the frustrating online experience by calling in by phone to Apple to place their pre-orders are finding that Apple isn't accepting calls at this time, refusing to put customers on hold due to the crush of customers trying to place pre-orders. Even when Apple was taking calls, customers spent as much as three hours on hold before being told that there was nothing Apple's representatives could do until AT&T's servers are brought back up.

Meanwhile, customer frustration continues to increase, with both Apple and AT&T taking heat for the issues. While Apple has been known to struggle to keep up with launch-day demand for its products in the past, today's issues seem well beyond the scope of its usual congestion. Certainly the need for so many customers to interface with AT&T's systems during the pre-order process is a contributing factor to the difficulties, but it remains to be seen whether the issues stem from Apple and AT&T being woefully underprepared to handle the load or if customer demand has been significantly higher than the companies anticipated.

iPhone 4 pre-orders kicked off today and have been causing trouble for Apple's online ordering system which has been up and down throughout the morning. In fact, we are still receiving reports of U.S. customers being unable to fulfill the order forms online.

Boy Genius Report has also heard that AT&T's own internal network has been brought down by the crush.

In Japan, reports indicate that many physically lined up throughout the country just to get on the wait list. Softbank also found their servers struggling to keep up with demand while hundreds stood in line:

Softbank spokesman Furuya Katsuhide said that the better-than-expected demand had stressed the company's systems, which slowed both its website and the reservation process at stores.

Businessinsider also notes lines forming at AT&T stores in the U.S.

Apple's job postings are usually pretty unremarkable. Over the years, Apple has learned to keep from posting anything too revealing as they know that people are watching their every move. A recent job listing for a software engineer, however, seems unusually enticing to us.

Apple is looking for an engineer to work on a team "tasked with creating the next generation application for manipulating media". They are looking for someone to be involved in creating "new user interfaces" with the purpose of "allowing the user to manipulate content in new and exciting ways".

While the job listing remains sufficiently vague, it does raise some interesting possibilities. User interface design is a topic that runs to Apple's core. Ever since the original Macintosh introduced the mouse/window interface to the masses, UI has been a point of pride for Apple. "Next generation" interfaces could mean anything, but with Apple's focus on multi-touch interfaces as well the leaked images of a multi-touch trackpad, our imaginations jump right towards those possibilities.

With the launch of Steam for the Mac, a lot of attention has been focused on the relative performance of Mac gaming. Early benchmarks have shown that the same Steam games run at a significantly slower framerate under Mac OS X than under Windows.

The reason for the discrepancy has been described as due to relatively immaturity of drivers on the OS X side as well as other slowdowns. Some modest improvements may be seen with the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.6.4, but more dramatic improvements remain in the pipeline.

Responding to concerns about performance on some Mac Steam games, Valve employee rbarris provides some reassurance that further performance updates will be coming:

Performance is going to improve as drivers are updated. I would expect modest improvements in short term and larger ones in longer term. No, I can't put dates on them. We are making a lot of progress is identifying specific issues that need work inside the game and inside OpenGL and drivers. Apple, ATI and NVIDIA are all involved.

Steam is said to be working with Apple, ATI and NVIDIA on these optimizations for improved gaming performance. Driver-level features should arrive over time with future Mac OS X updates.

As rumored, Apple's new iOS application dedicated to the company's retail store experience is now live in the App Store. Known simply as Apple Store, the free application allows users to shop the full online Apple Store, pre-order the new iPhone 4, locate Apple retail stores, and sign up for retail store appointments and workshops.

With the Apple Store app, you can:
- See new and featured products from Apple.
- Shop the full selection of products available from the Apple Online Store.
- Find the latest accessories and software.
- Read customer reviews and get answers to product questions.
- Buy or reserve a new iPhone with just a few taps.
- Locate any Apple Retail Store in the world, instantly.
- Make Personal Shopping, Genius Bar, and One to One appointments.
- Sign up for workshops and events at your favorite Apple Retail Store.

While Apple Store is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, it is not a universal application and thus does not offer an iPad-specific interface when installed on Apple's larger tablet device.

Unfortunately, launching the application currently showing only Apple's "We'll be back soon" sticky note, as the company's online store has been taken down after briefly going live with iPhone 4 pre-orders and a redesigned Mac mini.

Update: Apple has posted a press release announcing the release of the application. The release does suggest that Apple Store is initially available only in the United States, and it is unclear whether the company is planning to extend availability to other countries in the future.

Apple has quietly updated the Mac mini with a brand new design.

- 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1.4" thick Unibody enclosure
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M Graphics Card
- Built-in Power Supply
- HDMI port and Mini DisplayPort
- Removable bottom panel shown here:

The removable bottom panel gives you access to memory. Back ports include: Ethernet, FireWire 800, Four USB 2.0, SD card slot, Audio Line out, HDMI, Mini Displayport.

With all the improvements, the base price of the Mac mini has increased to $699, though that includes more hard drive space, faster graphics and the features listed above.

Apple's online store has returned with details on how to pre-order the iPhone 4 for delivery on June 24th. As previously, reported, only the black iPhone 4 is available for pre-order. Apple gives no timeframe for when the white iPhone 4 will become available.

Apple seems to be preparing for the iPhone 4 pre-orders which are set to kick off on Tuesday, June 15th. They've brought the Apple online store down, presumably to make changes. There's been reports that no other retailer will be offering these pre-orders, so Apple might be the only option.

The exact time Apple will start accepting pre-orders has been a subject of debate.

Update: AT&T's Wireless site briefly allowed users to pre-order before going down for maintainence:

Pre-order page now accessible but no iPhone 4s are in their system yet.

As one of the launch retailers for the iPhone 4, Radio Shack is offering special trade-in deals for existing phones that can be applied to the new iPhone 4.

At a Brooklyn-area RadioShack, a sales representative named Shaquana told eWEEK that only some electronics trade-ins will be allowed in-store, and others will have to be arranged online. Devices that one can safely trade-in at the store, she said, include phones and game consoles, chargers, old cameras and camcorders.

Radio Shack's Twitter account has been filling in some blanks on the policy. Edible Apple has been tracking the tweets which revealed that the iPhone 3GS can be traded in for a $200 credit to the new iPhone:

The trade in value on an iPhone 3GS is $200, so if you're currently toting around last year's iPhone model and are eligible for an AT&T upgrade any time in 2010, you can pick up the new iPhone 4 for free. While trade-ins can ordinarily be done online, Radio Shack is advising users via its Twitter account that if the iPhone 4 is on your radar, your best bet is to show up in-store.

The iPhone 4 pre orders begin on Tuesday with the final U.S. launch taking place on June 24th.

(Note, you may do better than $200 selling your iPhone 3GS on your own, though with potentially more hassle)

Starbucks announced that they would be activating free Wi-Fi access across all U.S. locations starting on July 1st. The move is seen as a response to increased competition from other chains which already offer free Wi-Fi to their customers.

iPhone customers have already enjoyed free Wi-Fi at Starbucks stores in conjunction with AT&T. While the move negates this advantage for iPhone customers, it opens up more free Wi-Fi hotspots to iPod Touch and iPad owners who were previously excluded from the service.