Shortly after midnight on Friday, Apple sold out of launch day iPhone 5 pre-order inventory — leaving many less aggressive iPhone zombies completely out of luck.
Even though some of the early morning walkers found the pre-ordering process to be a bit wonky at times, those who pushed past intermittent server overload were rewarded with an order confirmation for the new iPhone 5 before supplies magically ran out within one hour.
“Pre-orders for iPhone 5 have been incredible,” Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris told AllThingsD. “We’ve been completely blown away by the customer response.” Although Kerris managed to only state the obvious without saying anything truly meaningful, like details of pre-order quantities.
The situation was similar for other pre-order zombies who swarmed AT&T online — the wireless carrier officially announced by approximately 10:30 a.m. that opening day inventory was also depleted.
“It's been very busy, one Apple call-center worker said, noting that U.K. customers who haven't so far ordered an iPhone 5 may now have to wait a few weeks before delivery.” the WSJ reported.
Apple is currently quoting 2-3 weeks for current iPhone 5 pre-orders to be fulfilled — making "sit and wait" the only option for less fortunate hordes of walking dead to quell their insatiable hunger for iPhone 5 sooner than later.
Massive line sitters are expected to overwhelm Apple retail stores next Friday when iPhone 5 officially goes on sale starting at 8:00 a.m. local time. Upgraaade!
Shares of Apple (AAPL) stock hit another all-time high of 691.28 up +8.30 or (1.22%) on Friday based on news of the perceived demand from rabid early adopters of the device.
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