AT&T suspends iPhone 4 preorders as security breach reports grow
AT&T on Wednesday stopped accepting iPhone 4 preorders entirely, informing consumers that sales were temporarily suspended due to demand ten times higher than for the iPhone 3GS. Also, new claims arose that users' credit card information and shipping addresses have shown up within the wrong online accounts.
"Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we're suspending pre-ordering today in order to fulfill the orders we've already received," the company announced in a statement Wednesday. "The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking pre-orders."
It continued: "In addition to unprecedented pre-order sales, yesterday there were more than 13 million visits to AT&T's website where customers can check to see if they are eligible to upgrade to a new phone; that number is about 3-times higher than the previous record for eligibility upgrade checks in one day."
Clicking the "Pre-order Now" button on AT&T's website Wednesday morning provided a notice that simply read "Pre-orders for iPhone temporarily suspended." No further details were provided.
The ten-times-greater demand figure was also cited in Germany, where iPhone 4 preorders have also far exceeded that of the iPhone 3GS in 2009.
In addition, some who have attempted to purchase a phone through AT&T's website found that it reverted back to pre-iPhone 4 availability and pricing of the iPhone 3GS. The options showed a 16GB iPhone 3GS for $149, and a 32GB model for $199. The iPhone 3G was also shown for $99, and all three models were said to require a new 2-year contract.
AT&T completely sold out of iPhone 4 preorders on Tuesday, the first day of availability before next week's official launch.
The company said it was its busiest online sales day in history, ten times higher than for the iPhone 3GS. New orders were said to receive their handset on June 25 or later.
Meanwhile, rumors of an alleged security breach with AT&T continued to grow, with Gizmodo reporting on readers who say they were shown information that wasn't theirs on the company's website.
One reader attempting to cancel his premium Wi-Fi account was allegedly shown the wrong credit card type, number and expiration date, suggesting it may have been someone else's data. In the attached screenshot, parts of the credit card number were automatically redacted from view.
The report also alleged that the issues on AT&T's side have extended to Apple's website, where one customer was shown the wrong information -- including the account number, name and address of someone else. That reader said Apple's website pulled the information from AT&T in order to verify the shipping address for the handset.
Finally another reader said they were sent confirmation for an iPhone 4 order that they never placed.
"I thought it was fake at first but after checking the status on AT&T's website I knew it was a real order," they wrote. "Now I just wonder if it will come to my house."
AT&T earlier issued a statement to say that it is looking into the reports of various security issues surrounding iPhone preorders. The company said that previous incidents where information was allegedly displayed "did not include call-detail records, social security numbers, or credit card information."
"Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we're suspending pre-ordering today in order to fulfill the orders we've already received," the company announced in a statement Wednesday. "The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking pre-orders."
It continued: "In addition to unprecedented pre-order sales, yesterday there were more than 13 million visits to AT&T's website where customers can check to see if they are eligible to upgrade to a new phone; that number is about 3-times higher than the previous record for eligibility upgrade checks in one day."
Clicking the "Pre-order Now" button on AT&T's website Wednesday morning provided a notice that simply read "Pre-orders for iPhone temporarily suspended." No further details were provided.
The ten-times-greater demand figure was also cited in Germany, where iPhone 4 preorders have also far exceeded that of the iPhone 3GS in 2009.
In addition, some who have attempted to purchase a phone through AT&T's website found that it reverted back to pre-iPhone 4 availability and pricing of the iPhone 3GS. The options showed a 16GB iPhone 3GS for $149, and a 32GB model for $199. The iPhone 3G was also shown for $99, and all three models were said to require a new 2-year contract.
AT&T completely sold out of iPhone 4 preorders on Tuesday, the first day of availability before next week's official launch.
The company said it was its busiest online sales day in history, ten times higher than for the iPhone 3GS. New orders were said to receive their handset on June 25 or later.
Meanwhile, rumors of an alleged security breach with AT&T continued to grow, with Gizmodo reporting on readers who say they were shown information that wasn't theirs on the company's website.
One reader attempting to cancel his premium Wi-Fi account was allegedly shown the wrong credit card type, number and expiration date, suggesting it may have been someone else's data. In the attached screenshot, parts of the credit card number were automatically redacted from view.
The report also alleged that the issues on AT&T's side have extended to Apple's website, where one customer was shown the wrong information -- including the account number, name and address of someone else. That reader said Apple's website pulled the information from AT&T in order to verify the shipping address for the handset.
Finally another reader said they were sent confirmation for an iPhone 4 order that they never placed.
"I thought it was fake at first but after checking the status on AT&T's website I knew it was a real order," they wrote. "Now I just wonder if it will come to my house."
AT&T earlier issued a statement to say that it is looking into the reports of various security issues surrounding iPhone preorders. The company said that previous incidents where information was allegedly displayed "did not include call-detail records, social security numbers, or credit card information."
Comments
AT&T continued to grow, with Gizmodo reporting on readers who say they were shown i
Finally another reader said they were sent confirmation for an iPhone 4 order that they never placed.
"I thought it was fake at first but after checking the status on AT&T's website I knew it was a real order," they wrote. "Now I just wonder if it will come to my house."
Heck, send a free one to my house!
What a mess...! Glad I went with my Sprint Evo. Great service, great device, no security breaches, and no iPhone 4 lottery (and a ton cheaper per month to boot!).
awesome Evo, did you get the detachable face version?
awesome Evo, did you get the detachable face version?
Nope, mine's in perfect shape. Much better than my cracked corners white iPhone 3GS after 1 month of use (with no abuse)!
I have to wonder if this isn't a malicious attack of some kind that has caused all this. It's hard to imagine it is just a technical screw up. But then again ...
Sounds like server overload in conjunction with sloppy programming. Under normal conditions the server sends you a cookie which tracks you through your session. When the server gets overloaded it fails to read the cookie or issue it and then does a search on " " and there are other people with a cookie of the same value of " " as well. The sloppy programming part is that the server actually allows blank or broken sessions to be valid.
One reason you see really long sessions values in the URL string with big time jsp deployments. It's ugly, but that way you don't have to depend solely on a cookie for the session value.
I have no great love for ATT, but when was the last time you saw his kind of one day demand for any other smart phone? Verizon, sprint, or tmobile have never dealt with this before.....my guess is that they would fall flat on their faces.
I got my order in with no problem...I little slow perhaps, but no issues otherwise. Each year the articles come out slamming Apple and ATT, and yet we all still stand in long lines or crash their servers with our frantic orders.
I have no great love for ATT, but when was the last time you saw his kind of one day demand for any other smart phone
Remember the Instinct? lol, did you see where Sprint redacted its EVO sales numbers?
Okay, when do we start blaming Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint and stating conspiracy theories, like them hiring people to do a DoS attack on AT&T's servers?
Gotta blame AT&T for this mess... Im just glad my transaction went smooth. Maybe demand played a factor, too.
What a mess...! Glad I went with my Sprint Evo. Great service, great device, no security breaches, and no iPhone 4 lottery (and a ton cheaper per month to boot!).
And a sweet 3 hour battery life!
Where's the fire? This stuff is nothing new...Apple and ATT have been dealing with the same problems every time a new iPhone comes out. I'm sure they have all hands on deck and yet it still happens.
I have no great love for ATT, but when was the last time you saw his kind of one day demand for any other smart phone? Verizon, sprint, or tmobile have never dealt with this before.....my guess is that they would fall flat on their faces.
I got my order in with no problem...I little slow perhaps, but no issues otherwise. Each year the articles come out slamming Apple and ATT, and yet we all still stand in long lines or crash their servers with our frantic orders.
No kidding. All of a sudden everyone has so much experience at running multinational corporations and IT departments that it allows them to tell us what such companies should be and shouldn't be doing at this time. I think we are clearly much better served if they log off the forum and forward their resumes over to AT&T and Apple as quickly as possible. They may be our only hope.
What a mess...! Glad I went with my Sprint Evo. Great service, great device, no security breaches, and no iPhone 4 lottery (and a ton cheaper per month to boot!).
Good for you! Don't forget that extra special feature of the worst battery to exist in a smart-phone! Your Evo won't do you any good when it is dead half way through the day.
I ordered an iPhone 4 last night for the wife through Apple and it went through as smoothly as normal. I got the standard thank you screen after completion and got the immediate order acknowledgement email. Thanks Apple
I also had no problems last night through Apple's website. However, a friend of mine did experience the problem reported in this article in which the wrong account information was displayed. Obviously a glitch on AT&Ts side. I am having mine delivered because I have no interest standing in a line, even if they claim it is "reserved."
Remember the Instinct? lol, did you see where Sprint redacted its EVO sales numbers?
OMG! 66k units!!!
Gotta blame AT&T for this mess... Im just glad my transaction went smooth. Maybe demand played a factor, too.
I certainly put blame on them, but also on others, including the customers (myself included) that expected it go as smoothly as any other day.
They finally charged my account, it shows up and the Back-Order listing is still at '1'. Won't get excited again until it actually shows it has shipped.