Apple Inc. said it took advance orders for more than 600,000 new iPhones world-wide on the first day the device became available, a flood of demand that caused difficulty processing orders at U.S. carrier AT&T Inc.

Apple said the preorders were the most ever taken by the company in a single day, and 10 times higher than for the iPhone 3GS last year. It added that the crush resulted in a number of 'order and approvalsystem malfunctions' and apologized to frustrated customers.

AT&T said Wednesday it had stopped taking advance orders for the smartphone, as record demand sapped its inventory.

The suspension came a day after AT&T's paralyzed website left many would-be buyers unable to reserve the new iPhone and inadvertently sent some customers into other people's account pages.

'Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration,' Apple said in a statement. 'We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties.'

AT&T said it might resume taking preorders before the June 24 launch, depending on inventory. Wednesday afternoon, Apple's website showed that customers who preorder the iPhone 4 will receive their phones on July 14.

Analysts have been expecting the new model to help Apple sell about 36 million iPhones in the year ending in September, up about 73% from 20.8 million a year earlier.

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., took the latest disclosure as a positive sign of the healthy demand for the iPhone 4.

'We were not expecting anything close to this for preorders,' he said, adding that Apple likely will lose only a few customers as a result of the delay.

AT&T released no new details on its inquiry into reports that some customers had inadvertently gained access to others' account information while trying to preorder Tuesday.

'We're looking into the matter,' an AT&T spokesman said. 'At this point, any suggestion about what happened is pure speculation.'

AT&T said its website was visited more than 13 million times Tuesday by customers checking to see if they were eligible to upgrade to a new phone, about three times the amount of traffic on the previous one-day record for eligibility checks.

Since launching three years ago, the iPhone has become Apple's largest business, accounting for more than 40% of its revenue. According to research firm IDC, Apple is currently the third-largest smartphone maker in the world with a 15.8% share behind Nokia Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. On Wednesday, Nokia warned of weak sales.

Apple, which meticulously plans its product launches, has had an unusualamount of problems related to the iPhone 4. Though it usually likes to surprise consumers with its new products, the impact of its latest phone was diminished this year by details that were revealed in April by Gawker Media's Gizmodo technology blog, which got hold of an iPhone prototype that was found at a Silicon Valley bar.

Apple also continues to suffer a shortage of supply of iPads, which are still on backorder in Apple's stores and website two months after it started selling.

Niraj Sheth / Yukari Iwatani Kane

• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• unable [ʌn´eibəl] a.不能的；无能为力的 (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中英语单词)
• healthy [´helθi] a.健康的 (初中英语单词)
• inquiry [in´kwaiəri] n.询问；质询；调查 (初中英语单词)
• suggestion [sə´dʒestʃən] n.建议，提议；暗示 (初中英语单词)
• amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
• traffic [´træfik] n.交通，运输 (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs] a.先，前，以前的 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• unusual [ʌn´ju:ʒuəl] a.不平常的；异常的 (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• carrier [´kæriə] n.搬运工人；托架 (高中英语单词)
• approval [ə´pru:vəl] n.赞成，批准，认可 (高中英语单词)
• launch [lɔ:ntʃ] vt.发动 n.发射；汽艇 (高中英语单词)
• ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)
• positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
• access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)
• motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
• related [ri´leitid] a.叙述的；有联系的 (高中英语单词)
• suspension [sə´spenʃən] n.吊；中止；暂停 (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• shortage [´ʃɔ:tidʒ] n.不足(量)；缺少 (英语四级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)
• spokesman [´spəuksmən] n.发言人 (英语六级单词)
• impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (英语六级单词)