iPhone 4S Preorders Break Record despite Initial Hiccup

The iPhone 4S has garnered an extraordinary demand though the preorder of the Apple smartphone was greeted by a bump.

It was not a smooth start for the iPhone 4S buyers when the preordering process kicked off at 12:01 a.m. (PDT) on Friday. Apple's online store experienced intermittent errors shortly after the deadline, according to CNET, and error messages frustrated the customers. Eventually Apple switched to a reservation system that allows buyers to reserve a device while pushing the registration to a later date.

While Apple promised that the device will be delivered on its official release date, Oct. 14, there was no announcement about the deadline by which customers need to order the phone to guarantee the delivery on that day.

More than 200,000 preorders for the iPhone 4S flooded into AT&T within 12 hours, breaking the company's sales records of Apple products, reports Bloomberg.

Verizon and Sprint also began taking orders on Friday.

Our systems were humming very strongly since 3 a.m., [and executives were] pleased with the sales and the ordering process, a Verizon Wireless representative said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple, according to an estimate by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, wiill sell 25 million handsets in the current quarter. The company holds a record of selling 1.7 million iPhones within mere three days in June, 2010, when the iPhone 4 was unleashed to the market.

The iPhone 4S is available in 16GB, 32GB, and, for the first time for an iPhone, 64GB. Each model will cost $199, $299, and $399 with a two-year contract.

Sporting an impressive 8-megapixel camera, Siri voice assistant and a faster processor, the iPhone 4S is packed with significant improvements to its features and specs many expected in the much anticipated iPhone 5.

The upgraded camera can shoot images at a resolution of 3264 x 2448, 60 percent higher than the 5-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4S features a retina display, with a dual-core A5 processor that will offer seven-times faster graphics and, overall, twice as fast as the iPhone 4. This speed would make iPhone 4S stand out in performance when playing games.

A new wireless system allows users to intelligently switch between its two antennas to make even better call quality.

The iPhone 4S is just as fast as its competitors that use 4G connectivity, with the max performance doubled to almost 14.4Mbps, said Schiller. Don't be confused -- the 4S will not be a 4G phone, but its download speed can match that of 4G smartphones.

A big feature only available on the 4S phone is Siri, also called Assistant, which functions as an interactive computer, or an AI, answering your questions and reading your text messages for you. The voice assistant system was demonstrated by Apple's Vice President Scott Forstall, who asked Siri what's the weather like today? The assistant responded with the forecast. The artificial intelligence merged into the iPhone will process your habits and patterns, and is capable of personalizing results based on your previous choices. Siri has the ability to perform many tasks, from transcribing text messages and searching maps to scheduling calendar appointments.

One major disappointment in not having the iPhone 5 may be the mounting expectation for the new teardrop design on a slimmer and lighter body than the previous iPhones.

iPhone 4S plus iOS 5 plus iCloud is a breakthrough combination that makes the iPhone 4S the best iPhone ever, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in the Let's Talk iPhone event held on Tuesday.

While the fifth generation of the iPhone is yet to come, the iPhone 4 is still expected to inherit Apple's glorious history as a top runner in the smartphone market.