The iPhone 5 on display after its introduction during Apple Inc.'s iPhone media event in San Francisco, California September 12, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach
(Reuters) - Shipment dates for the latest iPhone slipped by a week on the first day of sales, Apple Inc's Website showed on Friday, suggesting overwhelming demand for the slimmer, lighter and faster version of the smartphone.
Apple's U.S. store, at www.apple.com, was projecting shipments would take two weeks to fulfill, with analysts saying the date slipped within an hour of the start of presales.
AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp, the three US carriers who will sell the iPhone 5, continued to show availability for delivery next Friday, the announced first day of deliveries.
Apple said on its Website the new model would be available in its stores on that date.
"Clearly, iPhone 5 fever is in full swing," Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White said.
"When you do a pre-order, the last thing you want to do is upset customers, so obviously they are overwhelmed with the demand. No one wants to sell out in an hour."
Analysts have expressed surprise at how quickly Apple planned to roll out the new model around the world, saying this suggested supply constraints that afflicted past releases would not be a problem this time.
They raised their iPhone sales forecasts to reflect the quick consumption of the iPhone 5, with some saying more than 30 million Apple smartphones may be sold this quarter.
Topeka's White said he expects 1.3 million to 1.5 million in pre-orders, but added that the estimate now looked conservative. He said the iPhone 4s had seen 1 million pre-orders, while the earlier iPhone 4 received 600,000 pre-orders.
Apple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5 at midnight Pacific Time (0700 GMT) on Friday, with the first deliveries set for September 21.
"We believe the fast sell out indicates both high levels of demand and constrained supply," said Cross Research, an independent research house.
"However, given that the company announced an aggressive rollout schedule, we assume management's plan includes a rapid increase in production."
Apple shares rose 1.9 percent to a new all-time high of $695.86 on Friday, before easing back a little to $694.77 in heavy early morning trading on the Nasdaq.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
(sayantani.ghosh@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: sayantani.ghosh.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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