New iPhone 6 Plus already sold out in preorders, Apple store crashes

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Apple has given the people what they want in the iPhone 6 Plus, and they responded by preordering lots of the new device early Friday morning.

The Apple store sold out of all colors, carriers and storage capacities of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus within hours of opening preorders at 12 a.m. Friday, and orders were delayed three to four weeks.

Meanwhile, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 (smaller than the 6 Plus, but still bigger than the iPhone 5s) was set to ship in time for the official in-store launch on September 19.

Customers looking to go through their carriers found things just as bad, or worse. Verizon said it planned to ship the iPhone 6 Plus in 16 GB and 64 GB by October 14, while the 128 GB models won't ship until the 24th. AT&T gave similar estimates for all sizes of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Some of the delays, however, appear to be a result of holdups in the supply chain. Still, Apple seems to be closer on track then some of the initial estimates that suggested the iPhone 6 Plus might be delayed until early next year.

Heavy demand for Apple's shiniest new must-haves crashed the online store after midnight as customers reported slow load times and delays. Service was restored for some after about 30 minutes, but there appeared to be intermittent outages throughout the early morning hours.

The store outage continued a bumpy rollout, as the livestream of the keynote event frequently cut out for the first half hour and Chinese commentary threatened to drown out the speakers. Apple has also delayed the release of the new devices in China, reportedly because it failed to get regulatory approval on time.