Thanks to Amazon.com, you can now preorder it on the e-commerce site for $799.99.

For those unfamiliar with the hotly anticipated phone, here are some of the details: It’s got a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen, runs Android’s 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, has an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a front camera, and a quad-core 1.4 GHz processor. It also has “S Voice,” clearly inspired by iPhone’s Siri app, allowing a user to control certain functions on the phone using his or her voice. The phone is available in white and “pebble blue.”

But even if it’s a great phone — and even if Amazon’s Prime shipping applies — we have to say, that’s a pretty steep price to get a phone in advance of its release through carriers.

And, as the Amazon listing notes, the unlocked phone — which means its not tied to a wireless network — is “compatible with 2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and/or 3G UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850/900/1900/2100 wireless networks.”

What does all that gibberish mean? Basically that compatibility with certain wireless networks will be an issue. The Samsung Galaxy S III being sold through Amazon is a GSM phone, which means it won’t work on Verizon or Sprint’s networks. It’s not fully supported by T-Mobile, and while it will work with AT&T’s HSPA+ network, this device won’t work with LTE or 4G networks. (Even the Amazon listing encourages buyers to check with their network providers before purchasing.)

If you don’t mind being tethered to a carrier and would rather have a 4G/LTE-ready version of the phone at a much cheaper price, you’ll probably want to wait out the month, as the phone is expected to come to the U.S. sometime this summer. And at least you’ll know that it will work with your wireless network.

A new survey conducted by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets found that five percent of 2,600 respondents had either already preordered or were “very likely” to buy the Fire, exceeding the four percent who said in 2010 that they were very likely to buy the iPad. Another 12 percent said they were “somewhat likely” to purchase the Fire, again surpassing the nine percent who said the same thing of the original iPad prior to its launch.

And of the five percent of “very likely” buyers, 26 percent said they would delay their iPad purchase to buy the Fire.

If those metrics are surprising, they really shouldn’t be. The Fire’s low price, relative to the iPad, is obviously a major attraction — $199 to the iPad’s $499. And — thanks to the iPad — consumers are now familiar enough with the tablet category to be comfortable dropping $199 on the Fire.

That said, the pent-up Kindle Fire demand on display in this survey suggests that Apple may finally have a true tablet rival with which to battle, as RBC analyst Mike Abramsky observes:

“Tablet contenders (Xoom, Galaxy Tab, PlayBook, etc.) have failed to gain appreciable traction against iPad’s estimated 67 percent share, and iPad 2 should be a popular holiday purchase,” he writes. “However, strong early Fire uptake seems likely, raising speculation Apple now faces a real tablet contender.”

This morning a new version of the tablet appeared on Amazon: The Touchpad 4G. Priced at $699, the device features a number of enhancements over its predecessor — a faster 1.5 gigahertz processor, HP’s latest webOS 3.0.2 operating system and, of course, support for 4G wireless broadband. There’s no launch date specified on the device’s Amazon page, but an HP road map leaked earlier this year suggested we could see the device debut in late summer or early fall. Hopefully, it will sell better than its predecessor when it does. Though heavily discounted on Woot.com this past weekend, the entry-level 16 gigabyte Touchpad still sold only 612 units. To put that number in perspective, Woot sold 2,288 Motorola Xooms during a similar promotion for that tablet.

Evidently, the device has proven a bit more difficult to manufacture than its black counterpart. So much so that Apple (AAPL) has officially delayed release of the white iPhone 4 model until the second half of July. The company’s statement on the issue:

Statement by Apple on White iPhone 4

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

Dear Apple Store Customer,

You recently received a Shipment Notification email from Apple advising you that your iPhone has shipped.

This email is to confirm that your delivery will occur on June 23rd. Although Apple and FedEx tracking information may currently indicate a later date, you can check the FedEx website the morning of the June 23rd to track your package to your doorstep.

In the event that you will not be available to accept delivery on June 23rd, it may be more convenient to use our pre-sign delivery option by visiting our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.

Sincerely,

The Apple Store Team

The reason for the change in delivery date isn’t clear, though it might be that Apple is hoping to protect its servers from meltdown by staggering initial iPhone activations over two days.

Read Walt Mossberg’s iPhone 4 Review »

“Given the size of the iPhone 4 pre-order and our analysis of the expected upgrade cycle, particularly the remaining 3G users, we believe the full launch weekend of June 24-27 is shaping up to potentially be a 2 million-3 million iPhone event,” Fidacaro said in a research note today.

“[That’s] about 2-3x higher than the one million units sold over the first three days for both the 3GS and 3G launches,” the analyst added. “The strong initial demand seen during the pre-order is a positive for the June quarter and has apparently been limited by supply with new orders now indicating a July 14 delivery date.”

With 600,000 pre-orders racked up as of Wednesday and a few days yet to take more, a two-million unit launch weekend for Apple (AAPL) doesn’t seem much of a stretch. Frankly, neither does three million, given the iPhone 4′s feature set and price, as well as the fact that this year’s launch weekend begins on a Thursday rather than a Friday.

FURTHER READING

• Walt Mossberg’s iPhone 4 Review
• Analysts Raise iPhone 4 Sales Forecasts From Huge to Ginormous
• New iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Now Delayed to July 14
• Apple: Sorry We Sold 600,000 iPhone 4s Yesterday
• iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Sold Out at Apple, Suspended at AT&T
• What Happened to the White iPhone 4?
• AT&T Now Dropping iPhone Calls and iPhone 4 Pre-Orders
• And if You Have Any Questions About Your New iPhone 4, Just Ask Our Radio Shack Geniuses
• Everything You Need to Know About the iPhone 4

Adding new purchases to that, Huberty figures Apple (AAPL) will sell at least 42 million iPhones in calendar year 2010, assuming a 30 percent upgrade rate for existing customers. If the rate hits 50 percent, sales will grow to 48 million. In 2011, Huberty expects another 19 million upgrades.

Result: “We see the iPhone installed base rising from approximately 30M subscribers at the end of 2009 to over 100M by the end of 2011,” says Huberty. “We believe there are several key drivers of iPhone upgrades including: 1) Redesigned hardware with many new important features, 2) ‘Stickiness’ of the installed base due to App store and iTunes, 3) 57% of U.S. installed base is not fully upgradeable to iOS4 (i.e. no multitasking), 4) Early upgrade incentives from AT&T and 5) Maturation of the installed base. We would also point to AT&T’s introduction of tiered data pricing (that potentially reduces iPhone total cost of ownership by 20%+) as a possible driver of the strong initial pre-order activity.”

So as I said earlier today, if you want an iPhone 4 by June 24th, but didn’t manage to order one yesterday, best grab a beach chair and get in line. Might want to bring a sleeping bag, too, given this new date.

Curious that Apple (AAPL) would adjust the device’s shipping date twice in such quick succession. Did extraordinary demand drive the company to do so? Or another issue–perhaps the same one that made the white iPhone 4 unavailable for pre-order?

UPDATE: According to Best Buy’s iPhone 4 Pre-order FAQ, the retailer is no longer accepting pre-orders “effective immediately.”

Apple’s (AAPL) remarks coincided with a statement from AT&T (T) claiming first-day iPhone 4 pre-orders were 10 times greater than those of the iPhone 3G S last year and explaining the company’s decision to suspend further pre-orders.

Below, the two companies’ statements in full.

Statement by Apple on iPhone 4 Pre-Orders

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 16 — Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.

AT&T Statement on Pre-Order iPhone 4 Sales

DALLAS, June 16 — AT&T issued the following statement today:

IPhone 4 pre-order sales yesterday were 10-times higher than the first day of pre-ordering for the iPhone 3G S last year. Consumers are clearly excited about iPhone 4, AT&T’s more affordable data plans and our early upgrade pricing.

Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we’re suspending pre-ordering today in order to fulfill the orders we’ve already received.

The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking pre-orders.

In addition to unprecedented pre-order sales, yesterday there were more than 13 million visits to AT&T’s website where customers can check to see if they are eligible to upgrade to a new phone; that number is about 3-times higher than the previous record for eligibility upgrade checks in one day.

We are working hard to bring iPhone 4 to as many of our customers as soon as possible.

Despite Tuesday’s pre-order fiasco, Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) still exhausted the supply of iPhone 4s set aside for delivery on June 24.

“Because of the incredible interest in iPhone 4, today was the busiest online sales day in AT&T history,” the carrier said in a statement issued Tuesday evening. “As of Tuesday afternoon, customers who pre-order iPhone 4 moving forward will receive their device on June 25 or later, depending on when the order is placed. We’ll email customers with confirmation once their order is placed, and again when it ships. In addition, we will have devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis in our stores beginning on June 24.”

As of early Wednesday morning, a notice on the AT&T Web site says, “Pre-orders for iPhone temporarily suspended” (click on image above to enlarge). And internally, the company has reportedly issued the following communication to the sales staff:

Pre-orders for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS 8GB are Temporarily Suspended

Effective close of business on June 15, 2010, the ability to place pre-orders (new activations, upgrades and exchanges) has been temporarily suspended. There is a special team that will be manually working all pre-orders from June 15th that were held in a pending status. Under no circumstances should new pre-orders be attempted in the system.

Over at Apple.com, the iPhone 4 page now shows a shipping date of July 2 for new pre-orders. So if you still want an iPhone 4 on June 24, you’ll need to head down to an Apple or AT&T store, or a Best Buy (BBY), Radio Shack (RSH) or Wal-Mart (WMT), where the device will be sold to walk-ins on a first-come, first-served basis.

Interesting that Apple ran through its iPhone 4 pre-order supply so quickly, given the glitches that hampered sales yesterday. Makes you wonder how long that supply would have lasted if the ordering process had been trouble-free–and if Apple underestimated initial demand.

Why? And when will folks who prefer the white version be able to buy it?

Reached for comment, Apple (AAPL) didn’t provide much of an answer to either question. “There is tremendous excitement for the new iPhone 4 and we are working to get as many of them into the hands of customers as possible,” a spokesperson told me. “At launch, we have the black models available for purchase and we will be adding the white models as quickly as we can.”

Presumably, then, Apple has run into some sort of production problem with the white iPhone 4, enough of one that it’s not willing to specify an availability date. Note that the company says it will have only black models available at launch, suggesting white models may not be available when the device officially goes on sale June 24.

Early adopters hoping to pre-order the device ran into trouble at both the Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) Web sites, where the pre-order process failed between the “check eligibility” and “Please wait while we access your AT&T account information” stages. The situation was much the same at the companies’ brick-and-mortar stores, where clerks handling purchases ran into similar issues. Gizmodo reports that things grew so bad at one AT&T store, its staff began processing orders “on pen and paper.”

“They’re just using some Web interface, not the exact same customers are using online, but not much better. It’s probably the same servers. Basically, they were getting one pre-order thru every 20 minutes. They said the problem was system wide,” Gizmodo’s Kyle VanHemert reports.

“Here’s how it worked,” VanHermert explains, “They just kept mashing on the ‘submit’ button and getting error after error. On the umpteenth try, it’d go through and then the next step, whatever that was, would get error after error. After a long time, it would finally go through. What’s worse is that the first step of the process reups your 2 year contract, so you can’t walk away if you get fed up.”

It seems likely, then, that the problem here is with AT&T’s provisioning system, though obviously high demand is an issue as well. To wit, the outgoing message on Apple’s 800-MY-APPLE number.

“Thank you for calling Apple. Due to extremely high call volumes, we are unable to answer your call at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try your call again later. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the future.”

In any event, today’s pre-order debacle isn’t going over well at all with iPhone owners already frustrated by AT&T’s service, as evidenced by this mock error message from Michael Aleo (click to enlarge):

Reached for comment on today’s pre-order pandemonium, AT&T declined to give one. Apple hasn’t responded to a similar request.

[Top image credit: Larry Legend]

Apple (AAPL) will start accepting pre-orders for both the 3G and Wi-Fi models on Monday, May 10. And on May 28, Apple will begin shipping units in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K.

The launch will continue in July when the iPad arrives in nine additional countries: Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

Apple has already sold more than one million iPads in the U.S. since the launch of the Wi-Fi-only model on April 3 and the 3G version on April 30. Given these sales figures and Apple’s supply issues to date, it will be interesting to see how the international rollout goes.

The official announcement below.

iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Models Available in US on April 30

CUPERTINO, California—April 20, 2010—Apple® today announced that the Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad™ will be delivered to US customers who’ve pre-ordered on Friday, April 30, and will be available in Apple retail stores the same day starting at 5:00 p.m.

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models are just 0.5 inches thick and weigh just 1.6 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and deliver up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.*

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. US Apple retail stores are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

Pricing & Availability
iPad is available in Wi-Fi models in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available on April 30 in the US for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. AT&T is offering breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

iPad will be available at the end of May in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Apple will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders for iPad on May 10.

Incidentally, if you’re among the early adopters who pre-ordered an iPad 3G when it first went on sale, you’re still likely to receive yours by late April. According to an email message Apple (AAPL) sent out this morning, the company still intends to ship pre-orders by the end of this month, as promised.

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Thank you for your recent order of the magical and revolutionary iPad 3G.

We would like to confirm that your order will be shipped in late April as communicated at the time you placed your order. You will receive a confirmation notice when your order has shipped.

You can get up-to-date information about your order, including shipping status and tracking number, at Apple Order Status

Thank you for choosing Apple.

Sincerely,
The Apple Store Team

Release:

Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad(TM). We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason–the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.

Interestingly, the sales figure is also on par with the 270,000 first-gen iPhones Apple (AAPL) sold during that device’s first 30 hours at market in 2007.

It’s important to remember, though, that this first-day sales number is for Wi-Fi-only iPads sold in the U.S. The figure does not include sales of the 3G version of the device, which arrives at market in a few weeks. Nor does it include online pre-orders with an April 12 ship date. Makes you wonder if Apple is purposely lowballing here …

Apple Sells Over 300,000 iPads First Day

CUPERTINO, Calif., April 5 — Apple® today announced that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3. These sales included deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores. Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded over one million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day.

“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world — it’s going to be a game changer,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”

“We estimate Apple sold between 600-700k iPads (including online pre-orders which started on March 12th) on the first day (4/3),” he wrote. “It took Apple three days to sell a million iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G’s, and 74 days to sell 1m original iPhones.”

Interestingly, Munster said that inventory is not quite as constrained as one would think given Apple’s decision last week to push some iPad pre-order shipments ahead to April 12.

“As of 7:30PM ET on Saturday night (4/3), 19 of 20 stores we called still had availability of all models, which is a positive for first day sales given Apple was able to fulfill most demand,” Munster wrote.

“In addition,” the analyst continued, “we noted longer than expected lines at the five Apple stores we surveyed. For example, at the 5th Ave Store in New York we counted 730 people in line at 9am (when iPad sales began) compared to our count of 350 people for iPhone 3GS, and 540 people for iPhone 3G.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said this morning that his initial estimates of 900,000 iPads sold in the June quarter and 2.7 million in calendar year 2010 “may prove to be conservative.”

Munster figures Apple (AAPL) is poised to sell between 200,000 and 300,000 iPads this weekend–in line with the 270,000 first-gen iPhones it sold at launch. And he thinks the chances are good that the company will sell out of the device.

“When Apple began taking pre-orders customers could pre-order for home delivery on April 3 or in-store pickup on April 3,” Munster writes. “A week before the launch (on March 27) the company pushed back the shipping date to April 12 and ended the in-store reservation program for the launch. And in preparation for the launch, on March 31 Apple retail stores began calling those with iPad pickup reservations to confirm the reservation.”

What does it all mean? Says Munster: “We believe these signs indicate that initial demand for iPads was stronger than the company expected, and/or minor supply issues have slightly constrained availability for the launch. We believe the supply constraints are minor because the new ship date is not a significant delay. Ultimately, both strong demand and somewhat constrained supply appear to be resulting in the fact that Apple is selling every iPad it can build.”

Munster’s bullish estimate follows two others issued earlier this week–one from Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who expects iPad sales to hit five million units in the first year, and another from Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Katy Huberty, who expects the company to sell over six million units.

[Image credit: Panelfly]

“iPad yields should improve dramatically throughout the year even if the launch starts out capacity constrained,” Reitzes wrote in a research note to clients today. “These developments support upside to consensus forecasts for the iPad, should demand materialize like we think it can. We estimate Apple will sell almost 5 million iPads for CY10; including 1.2 million in the June quarter–which could prove conservative.”

As for the iPhone, the analyst says, “Also, we have increased confidence that Apple will make a big splash this summer with a new iPhone form factor. We believe that the new model will launch with considerable fanfare and expect unit expectations to rise in turn.”

“Big splash,” “considerable fanfare”: That’s certainly been the case with iPhone launches to date. No reason to expect things will be any different this time around.

As for iPad sales, there’s really no telling yet, though “people familiar with the matter” have told The Wall Street Journal that Apple has sold hundreds of thousands of units via pre-order and could end up selling more iPads in the first three months than it sold iPhones in the three months after that device’s debut.

BoomTown is always up at 5:30 am PT, but now I will apparently be joined by twitch-fingered Apple fanboys waiting for the iPad pre-order rush to begin this morning.

Currently, the Apple Store online has this note of heady anticipation (A Post-It? Katie, surely you could do better!):

Getting the actual magic tablet into your grubby mitts will have to wait three more weeks until April 3, when the Wi-Fi-only version comes out, followed soon by the 3G iPad.

Meaning it will be a month of me doing videos of overstimulated dudes in line at Apple (AAPL) stores.

Until then, here are a couple of my videos from the iPhone debut in late June 2007 in Palo Alto and San Francisco:

The Sony (SNE) album, titled “I Dreamed a Dream,” goes on sale on Nov. 23. Ms. Boyle sang the song by the same name on “Britain’s Got Talent,” and the video of her unexpectedly strong performance made her a world-wide phenomenon after it landed on video-sharing sites like YouTube.

Amazon announced the pre-order milestone Wednesday, noting that her advance sales have exceeded those for such stars as Norah Jones, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay. It also created a “store” for Ms. Boyle that includes her breakthrough clip in addition to a link to buy the $10 album.

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