Online Apple Store, AT&T site both down as iPhone 5 pre-orders loom

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
With a little over three hours to go before Apple opens up pre-orders for the iPhone 5, the company's online storefront, as well as AT&T's entire site, has gone down in preparation for what is expected to be an onslaught of traffic.

AT&T's website is only available to current customers wanting to manage their account, while Apple's site is fully functional save for the online store.

Apple put up its familiar "We'll be back" sign, that now cycles through a number of different languages, as it braces for the expected horde of people wanting to be the first to pre-order the new iPhone 5. The connected Apple Store iOS app is also displaying the same message.

Apple Store Down
Source: Apple


AT&T's page went down for maintenance a couple hours earlier than the Apple Store, and includes a splashy placeholder with a timer counting down to the "the big event."

AT&T Down
Source: AT&T


Both companies are most likely taking precautions to not repeat the pre-order troubles seen with last year's iPhone 4S. Overwhelming demand for the last-generation handset caused some customers to receive error messages when ordering began shortly after midnight on Oct. 7, 2011, though the system was sorted out a few hours later.

As of this writing, the websites of the two other major U.S. wireless operators that will initiate iPhone 5 pre-orders on Friday, Verizon and Sprint, are fully functional.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 113



    Originally posted by AT&T's site in eight minutes:


    "503 Service Not Available? What did you expect!"



     


    How long has the Apple Store cycled through different languages on the square?

  • Reply 2 of 113


    Now if only the phone wasn't a fail. (Joking)


     


    Anyway, I think the iPhone 5 is nice looking (i am not a fan of the 3G type design). I also think it is a bigger jump than many people think. Like the SII to the SIII. All you can do is make it faster with a better battery. Just the iphone 5 is better made and not so damn big.


     


    I'm not a big fan of things getting so thin, so i hope in the future its more about the function (increased battery life, 10+ hours) rather than the thickness, keep it about the same. I don't want to feel like im holding air or paper.

  • Reply 3 of 113
    recrec Posts: 217member


    Ready to go here.  Been waiting for this inevitable launch so I could replace my out-of-contract iPhone 4.  And I'm glad Apple turned out to be so predictable on what iPhone 5 was going to be, basically a shrunk down iPad 3.  That's what I've been counting on and it's good to see it happened.

  • Reply 4 of 113


    I'll be all set. One of the upsides of living in Alaska: 3am Eastern is 11pm Alaskan. As long as the system doesn't crash and burn like last year, I should have all my orders placed and be in bed by midnight.


     


    Of course, that was the plan last year as well. We all know how smoothly that went. I think I had my last phone ordered by 4:14 am.

  • Reply 5 of 113


    I can't believe I'll be missing Day One pre-ordering, all because my car is in the shop with cost of repair to be determined. Sadness. I guess I can wait a month or two right... right... 

  • Reply 6 of 113


    AT&T's "big event" is their servers crashing.

  • Reply 7 of 113
    Ugh. I remember this. Impatiently waiting for the announcement. Impatiently waiting for pre-order. Impatiently waiting for the Fed-Ex tracking to update. Freaking out for 12 hours while my iPhone is shown on Fed-Ex's website as being in Oakland (Don't kill my iPhone Oakland!) ...

    Then sitting at home on the arrival day getting excited every time I hear a truck engine...

    it never ends. :\
  • Reply 8 of 113
    Hey what's the deal with cases, btw? I haven't seen anything about this on the sites... is Apple doing a bumper or something?
  • Reply 9 of 113
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member


    I have to ring up my phone company at 5:01pm local time to arrange to upgrade my plan, it's midnight for online orders.


     


    Strange, I wonder why they don't do this for any other phones?

  • Reply 10 of 113


    Probably not the carriers, but I have a feeling Apple's going to be a little more prepared this time around when the flip is switched.

  • Reply 11 of 113

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by thataveragejoe View Post


    Probably not the carriers, but I have a feeling Apple's going to be a little more prepared this time around when the flip is switched.



     


    I hope so. I remember the iPhone 4 preorder. I stopped trying to get through to Apple's site at around 9 am. I went to a movie (I think it was The A-Team) and returned around 4 pm. I got the new iPhone ordered about an hour later, but it got delivered on time.

  • Reply 12 of 113
    recrec Posts: 217member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DeanSolecki View Post



    Ugh. I remember this. Impatiently waiting for the announcement. Impatiently waiting for pre-order. Impatiently waiting for the Fed-Ex tracking to update. Freaking out for 12 hours while my iPhone is shown on Fed-Ex's website as being in Oakland (Don't kill my iPhone Oakland!) ...

    Then sitting at home on the arrival day getting excited every time I hear a truck engine...

    it never ends. image


     


    I think the trick is to honestly not care.  I've been using my iphone 4 since launch and I've grown accustomed to it, its not like its some horrible device I need to get rid of right now. (In fact I may miss it because it and apple have served me so well).  I also had an original iphone since launch and used it until the 4 came out.  That was a real, substansial upgrade like I expect this will be.


     


    And it helps to be doing the upgrade for good reasons.  If its just to get the latest toy, it becomes all about that christmas-morning-high.  You can build up expectations and end up feeling negative when something goes wrong.  And you know in today's globalized world of manufacturing and delivery chains, a lot can go wrong.


     


    I try not to jump at the latest thing.  I would have liked to have an iphone 4s but I knew that waiting for the 5 was the big prize.  And since the 4s has been out a year now I've waited so long for this, I can wait another month or whatever it takes.  Yes I skipped over the whole iphone 3/3gs models, they never seemed like significant enough updates to me.  But I'll get it sometime in October is my expectation, and I'm willing to put the order in now just in case it ends up taking longer than I expect.

  • Reply 13 of 113

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Seankill View Post


    Now if only the phone wasn't a fail. (Joking)


     


    Anyway, I think the iPhone 5 is nice looking (i am not a fan of the 3G type design). I also think it is a bigger jump than many people think. Like the SII to the SIII. All you can do is make it faster with a better battery. Just the iphone 5 is better made and not so damn big.


     


    I'm not a big fan of things getting so thin, so i hope in the future its more about the function (increased battery life, 10+ hours) rather than the thickness, keep it about the same. I don't want to feel like im holding air or paper.



    Agreed.  How thin is best?  The thinner the better.  You can only go so thin until eventually its just a sheet of glass?  Does the newer thinner attitude make it a requirement?  What if Apple didn't make the iPhone 5s or 6 thinner would people then be critical and say bad things about the Apple iPhone model that wasn't thinner.


     


    Also.  Where does the iPhone 6 go?  We pretty much know that the iPhone 4s was basically the same size and weight as the 4.  So we can assume that the iPhone 5s will be the same size and weight as the 5.  Yet where does Apple go from there?  Will the 6 be wider?  will Apple leave the logic of the thumb and its function in relation to the screen?  Do people see a wider screen as an advantage compared to a taller screen?  Will Apple adapt the wider screen but same thickness in the 8th (iPhone 6) model of iPhone?

  • Reply 14 of 113
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member


    BTW, has Apple shown off any accessories/cases for the new iPhone yet? New bumpers?

  • Reply 15 of 113
    @REC

    I also went iPhone, iPhone 4, (now) iPhone 5... skipping an increment definitely makes the update feel a little more "revolutionary," and when the 3GS came out I wasn't that impressed (although in hindsight, I think it was because I'd expected each of the "next" iPhones to be as big of a jump as the original iPhone had been over the then-current "smart phones," which as an attitude towards tech was, and still is, incredibly unrealistic.)

    I can't stop the night-before-christmas teeth grinding, however. You win that round. :)
  • Reply 16 of 113
    mazda 3s wrote: »
    BTW, has Apple shown off any accessories/cases for the new iPhone yet? New bumpers?

    http://www.cultofmac.com/190499/why-apple-is-killing-off-the-bumper-and-why-you-wont-need-a-case-for-your-iphone-5/
  • Reply 17 of 113
    aiaaia Posts: 181member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    How long has the Apple Store cycled through different languages on the square?



     


    I have a strong feeling that the store is going to stay unavailable until 0:00 PST/03:00 EST.

  • Reply 18 of 113
    Once they're back up, all hell is going to break loose. Barclays and Credit Suisse have already raised their expectations for the stock.

    Also, you're going to need a new case for that new iPhone. You might want to consider a stylish one that is a wallet, case and stand.  http//icrobat.com
  • Reply 19 of 113
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member

    Listen, my wife is a clutz, she'll find a way to break/drop it. She WILL be getting some kind of case :)
  • Reply 20 of 113
    mazda 3s wrote: »
    Listen, my wife is a clutz, she'll find a way to break/drop it. She WILL be getting some kind of case :)

    I also had doubts when I read that article, since breaking the glass isn't the only thing that can happen to it (my iP4 has many a ding and scratch since I decided to go caseless.)

    It does appear, however, that the bumper is no longer an Apple product.

    If you do a google search there are many currently-shipping 3rd party options, however (which is what I did after asking about why there has been no talk of cases since the 5 was announced.)

    Guess Apple is leaving it to inCase et al. to keep your wife from breaking her phone. :)
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