The new iPhone 5 goes on sale in retail stores later this week, but buyers went online early last Friday to gobble up the latest Apple offering.
Apple opened online pre-orders of the new smartphone at 3:01 a.m. last Friday and sold out of its available stock within an hour.
According to Apple’s website, people looking to order the iPhone 5 now will need to wait two weeks before getting the new device.
“Our online systems have performed flawlessly. We have seen significant volume since we started to accept the pre-orders at 3 a.m. There is clearly strong interest from our customers,” said Michelle Gilbert, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless.
Gilbert said customers were asking questions about their account to see if they were eligible to upgrade to the new phone, its costs and what would be the correct rate plan for them.
“We’re very pleased with our customers’ initial interest in the iPhone 5 on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Our stores will be open early at 8 a.m. [Friday] when the iPhone [officially] launches,” Gilbert said
The iPhone 5 will cost $199 for a 16 GB version; $299 for a 32 GB version; and $399 for a 64 GB version.
