40 Minutes After Pre-Orders Begin, Apple Store Finally Goes Live But Results Are Mixed

Some 40 minutes after the iPhone 4S pre-orders have begun, which started at 12:01 AM Pacific Time on October 7, Apple’s online store is up. Surprisingly, Apple’s site, which is a major destination for iPhone 4S pre-orders, was missing in action and Apple’s absence did not appear to be related to heavy traffic. However, despite being live late into the game, from the looks of things, frustrations continue.

While the Apple Store page is live and up, your results may be limited. I’ve tried to add a line onto an AT&T account and Xavier had tried to replace an iPhone on his account, but the pre-order page would not go further than that. It’s unclear what your mileage may be for other carriers–Verizon and Sprint are now carrier partners for the iPhone 4S in addition to AT&T–when going through Apple’s website. If things aren’t working, wait a bit and try refreshing.

For now, patience is a virtue, but a fleeting one at best for agitated customers who had tried to either wake up early–pre-orders went live at 3:01 AM Eastern Time–or are staying awake to ensure they get their iPhone 4S on launch date of October 14, a week later. Through the night, Apple’s store has been down, AT&T’s store is stuttering and is still not allowing customers to order the iPhone 4S though it works fine for the iPhone 4, and Sprint’s store is buckling under heavy web traffic.

Good luck to all you eager iOS fans!