Apple's iPhone 5 now available to preorder in select launch countries
Following Apple's announcement of the iPhone 5 on September 12, the new smartphone is now available to preorder in the select launch countries, which include the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK.
Context & Ripple Effects
The pre-order window Apple confirmed for 12:01 a.m. PDT on September 14 went live on schedule, opening sales of the iPhone 5 in six launch countries — the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK — two days after the September 12 keynote. The playbook mirrors last year's iPhone 4S pre-order opening, which preceded an October 14 launch.
Demand signals arrived within hours rather than days: MacRumors reported shipping estimates slipping to two weeks on pre-order day itself, echoing the 1-2 week backlogs that marked the 4S rollout to 22 additional countries in late 2011. Bloomberg's report that Wal-Mart would take iPhone pre-orders for the first time marks a notable widening of the retail channel beyond Apple's own stores and carrier shops.
First-order effects
- Supply is already behind demand: with shipping estimates at two weeks on day one, buyers in the six launch countries face a three-week wait for units ordered now versus walking into a store on September 21.
- Wal-Mart's first-time participation in iPhone pre-orders gives US buyers a new retail path alongside Apple and the major carriers, immediately expanding where launch-day allocation can be claimed.
Second-order effects
- Unlocked pricing of $649-$849 (per TechCrunch) sets the no-contract reference point that carriers must undercut with subsidies, sharpening price competition around the LTE-capable device — though Verizon and Sprint customers lose out on simultaneous voice-and-data, a limitation The Verge confirmed before orders opened.
- Retailers outside the initial pre-order group face pressure to secure allocation for future windows, since missing the first wave means ceding launch-week traffic to Apple, carriers, and now mass-market chains like Wal-Mart.
Third-order effects
- If the 4S-to-5 pattern holds — initial six-country launch followed by staged international waves — multi-year iPhone rollouts will keep structuring global carrier marketing calendars around Apple's supply cadence rather than their own.
- Day-one pre-order sellouts are hardening into a fixture of Apple's annual fall cycle, converting each launch into a two-week scarcity event that amplifies press coverage without Apple spending on additional advertising.
The trend: Apple's annual fall iPhone launches are consolidating into a fixed ritual — keynote, midnight pre-order, immediate backlog, then staged country-by-country expansion — that dictates the rhythm of the global smartphone market.