Apple Inc is facing an unusual problem - too much demand for iPhone 5. The Cupertino giant is said to be finding hard to meet the demands of the people for its new smartphone, forcing it to delay the pre-order delivery by three to four weeks.
The reports of the delay in the pre-order delivery came just a day after Apple announced that iPhone 5 pre-orders topped two million in the first 24 hours, which is more than double the record held by iPhone 4S.
Apple reportedly stopped taking orders for a brief time on Saturday and its Apple's online store indicates that phones purchased today might not be delivered for four weeks, said CNET.
The Cupertino giant was said to be caught off-guard by the pre-order frenzy when it was launched last week. It announced on Monday that iPhone 5 topped two million pre-orders in the first 24 hours.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note that 6-10 million units of iPhone 5 are expected to be sold in the opening weekend.
Apple said on Monday that demand for iPhone 5 has exceeded the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders will be delivered to customers on Sept 21, many are scheduled to be delivered in October.
The new iPhone will be available at 356 Apple retail stores in the US at 8 a.m. local time onwards on Friday. Every customer who buys an iPhone 5 at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service that will help in customizing the device by setting up email, displaying new apps from the App Store and more. By doing so customer's will be up and running with their new iPhone even before they leave the store.
Apple has announced that iPhone 5 will also be available in countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Sept 21. It will be launched in 22 more countries on Sept 28.
iPhone 5 will come in either white and silver or black and slate, and will be priced in the US at $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model.
The new iPhone comes with iOS 6 with over 200 new features, a 4-inch Retina display, an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance, ultrafast wireless technology and an improved battery life.
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