ATT may already be past launch day

AT&T today said it has already sold out of its launch day iPhone 4 pre-orders. Any orders made directly through AT&T after 4:30PM Eastern have been bumped to June 25 or later. The sellout is the result of "incredible interest," which AT&T said represented its best online sales day in company history.

Apple still lists its pre-orders as shipping June 24, even with processing problems slowing down or even stopping some pre-orders. Both it and AT&T will have impulse purchase iPhones on opening day.

The sales rate points to a likely all-time record for launch iPhone sales. Last year's record iPhone 3GS sales saw one million phones sold in three days. This year's numbers are likely to be higher as AT&T has encouraged online pre-orders much more than in the past, guaranteeing that many will get their phones on the first day.

iPhone 4 sales are likely to eclipse any competitors in the short term. Motorola's Droid, one of the most consistently successful Android phones, reached 525,000 units in a month. Other phones like the Droid Incredible and Evo 4G have mostly been limited by parts shortages, as even the Evo 4G peaked at roughly 66,000 phones on its launch weekend this month despite shipping delays.

By Electronista Staff