The reaction to the announcement of the iPhone 5 may have been muted, with many of the new features widely trailed in advance, but that didn’t stop pre-orders breaking records.
More than two million pre-orders were placed in the 24 hours following its availability, according to Apple. ‘iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,’ said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. ‘iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.’
Apple began taking pre-orders on Friday, but within an hour had sold out of its initial allocation and shifted despatch estimates back by a week. The company’s UK website is currently showing delivery estimates of 2-3 weeks. The iPhone 5 goes on sale in Apple retail stores on Friday and long queues are expected. In addition to those lining up in the hope of bagging a new iPhone, Apple’s retail launches have attracted so much media attention that they’ve become a magnet for publicity-seekers and those who want to promote their business or website.
