iPhone 5 Pre-orders: How Did They Go?

Now that's it been almost twelve hours after the initial ordering of the iPhone 5 began, we can now see how well ordering went.

According to reports the initial supply of the iPhone 5 sold out in about an hour with shipping times now saying “two weeks” in the US Apple Store. There have been reports that it took some users almost an hour to purchase their phone. Here are some anecdotal remarks regarding the ordering process:

@BearsFan34 on Twitter stated “I’m glad you got thru so early. My brother-in-law & I had HUGE issues. We got ours near 3am. My “secret?” Opera. Was ONLY WAY in”.

He also went on to say his brother in law also had issues while using a PC.

Having ordering issues was not the only issue that users had. Some users had issues editing the Shipping Address.

Jeremy Dennis (@yakk0dotorg) stated that he couldn't change his shipping address.

Ryan Block (@ryan) also had the same problem, “Got it ordered (pro tip: use the iOS app), but had issues with the shipping address. Guess I’m in for a long-hold-time call tomorrow.”

Jeremy Block and Jeremy were not the only users who had issues. Joel Housman (@joelhousman) also had the exact issue with modifying the shipping address.

Despite these issues, there were many people who ordered their's without any issue, myself included.

Podcaster Ken Ray (@macosken) was able toorder an iPhone 5 through the Apple AppStore app on his iPhone 4.

My Brother also used the Apple AppStore application to order his 16GB iPhone 5.

The biggest issue that many users faced was that the Apple website still said it was down for updates until about 12:40 Pacific time. I have not heard of any reports regarding issues with the eligibility requirement check with Apple's North American partners.

From the reports of BGR AT&T sold out of their launch day inventory just before 1PM Eastern. While Verizon sold out of their just before Noon Eastern. As of this writing Sprint still says they have launch-day delivery available.

Many are reporting that the launch was bad. However, given the number of people who were hitting the Apple website, the pre-order didn't go as horribly as it has in the past. Either way, I do not envy the Apple Store Website group.