History repeating: AT&T, Apple pre-orders face delays : Updated: AT&T comments on suspended pre-orders

Pre-orders for Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4 have been temporarily suspended, according to AT&T Mobility’s website. It appears that demand for the device once again is outpacing supply. Glitches also happened when the device was first introduced in 2007 and servers couldn’t handle the volume buys, and the first day the iPhone 3G was available in 2008.
On its website, AT&T says pre-orders are temporarily suspended and gives no indication on when they will resume; on the Apple website, people trying to pre-order the device are told the shipping date will be July 2, which is eight days after the device is expected to be available at retail stores. AT&T later said that pre-orders were 10 times higher than they were the first day pre-orders could be taken for the 3G iPhone so the carrier stopped taking orders so it can fill the orders it already has.
Apple Inc.’s launch of its 3G iPhone in 2008 got off to a rocky start when customers buying the device were having trouble synching their new phone to Apple’s iTunes service in retail outlets. When Apple and AT&T began selling the 2G version of the iPhone, which let people activate the device at home, as many as 4 million handsets were believed to have gone overseas. Because the handset was only available in the United States at the time, the companies changed the activation process to try to thwart the international sales.