In an email to current customers on Friday, Verizon Wireless confirmed that it will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone for at 3:00AM Eastern Time next Thursday, February 3rd. The email confirms earlier rumors to the same effect. Only existing Verizon Wireless subscribers are eligible for pre-orders — AT&T iPhone users and others looking to open a Verizon account when purchasing a new CDMA iPhone 4 will have to wait until the phone becomes available to the general public a week later on February 10th. Pre-orders will be available on a first-come, first-served basis so interested parties may when to set an early alarm and get their pre-orders processed as quickly as possible.
Why 3:00AM? For one thing, 3 o’clock on the 3rd has a nice ring to it. For another, only very, very excited people will get up at that hour to place their pre-orders. Of course, there are plenty of very excited people out there, but getting the overly-anxious customers out of the way in the middle of the night means crashes and server issues are less likely during the day. Subscribers with individual accounts looking to place pre-orders on the 3rd can visit verizonwireless.com/iphoneorder, and enterprise customers should visit verizonwireless.com/businessportals.
