A quick glance at Apple’s online store tells us that customers who want to place orders for an AT&T 4G iPad won’t be receiving them at the same time the iPad makes its debut. Shipping times have already fallen to March 19th from March 16th, something we all guessed would happen by the fact that Apple’s entire site and online store ground to a halt yesterday. Verizon 4G iPads will still be delivered on March 16th, though we believe that will change soon as well. Apple’s new iPad starts at $499 and will be available to purchase in stores on March 16th.

UPDATE: It looks like only 16GB and 64GB AT&T 4G iPads are sold out in white for the time being. The 32GB version will still ship for delivery on the 16th, as will each of the three models in black.

Google is reportedly in talks with retailers in an effort to create a subscription-based expedited delivery service that will compete directly with Amazon Prime. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Google has contacted a number of retailers in an effort to provide unlimited speedy deliveries to members who pay an annual fee. Among the retailers Google has reportedly contacted about the service are Gap, OfficeMax and Macy’s. “They’ve approached us with the idea, but we haven’t made any decisions,” a Macy’s spokesman told The Journal, seemingly confirming the report. Google plans to integrate the service into its search engine to an extent, but the system would also feature some amount of integration on partner sites. According to the report, Google plans to pilot the service in San Francisco ahead of a full launch, which the company hopes will take place some time next year.

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Apple’s iPhone 4S became available to the general public today, and the launch appears to have been an overwhelming success. Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe believes Apple could close out the weekend having sold as many as 4 million new iPhones. We’ve been hearing from proud new iPhone owners across the country all day — and we’ve also been hearing about all the crazy things they’ve been asking poor Siri — but we’ve also heard from an unhappy minority that seems to have fallen victim to fulfillment problems. Read on for more.

Updated with comment from AT&T.

Beyond an odd complaint here and there, things seem to be going well for Verizon Wireless and Sprint subscribers who emailed us today. We’ve also heard from plenty of happy AT&T customers, but there appears to have been an issue with pre-sales in some cases, and a number of AT&T customers have emailed us with war stories.

“[An AT&T customer care representative] confirmed phones would be shipping to customers for arrival on 10/14, but when nothing in my account changed I spoke with 2 others who confirmed all phones will be shipping with a 2 to 3 week delay,” one reader told BGR in an email. “For someone who purchased early the morning of 10/7 this is a complete let down.”

Several more BGR readers offered similar complaints, saying that orders placed early in the morning on October 7th are now being delayed by two or more weeks. A few other readers found that their orders had been canceled with no explanation given.

As it turns out, customers who had their orders canceled often found themselves in a better position than subscribers with delays. Those who tried to cancel their delayed orders with the intention of going to a retail store to purchase a new phone have often times been unable to do so, according to multiple emails we received. Due to the pending order status, customers would be forced to pay full MSRP for new iPhones since their accounts are no longer eligible for subsidized upgrades.

Dealings with customer care have been mixed to this point, according to accounts given by BGR readers. Several emails recount lengthy conversations that led nowhere as customer service was unable to determine the status of iPhone orders. At least one BGR reader said that AT&T offered to waive the $18 upgrade fee on his account, however he was still unaware of the status of his order at the time this article was published.

Customers with war stories always shout louder than those for whom orders have gone smoothly, and considering AT&T took in more than 200,000 pre-orders on October 7th alone, there were bound to be some bumps in the road. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: AT&T provided the following statement to BGR via email: “We are fulfilling orders on schedule in nearly every case.  We are aware of a small number of customers who have questions about their delivery timing and are working with one-on-one with each to answer questions.”

It’s 8:00 a.m., do you know where your iPhone is? The day is upon us and Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone is now available for purchase on the East Coast of the United States. Apple Stores that fall in the Eastern time zone are now open for business, and online pre-orders are out on delivery trucks en route to hundreds of thousands of homes across the country. As the sun moves west, retailers will open early and, in all likelihood, quickly sell through their limited launch day inventory. Did you pick up an iPhone today? Are you waiting in line for one right now? Post a comment below or shoot us an email and let us know how things are going. And if you already snagged a new iPhone 4S this morning, feel free to have Siri send that email for you.

Delivery times quoted on Apple’s online store for new iPhone 4 orders slipped to 1-3 business days this week, suggesting inventory may be diminishing. Orders placed on Apple’s U.S. website had previously shipped within 24 hours of being placed. With an announcement regarding Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone expected within the coming weeks and a launch to follow in October, iPhone 4 supply is likely beginning to run low. Apple may also launch a new low-cost version of the iPhone 4 alongside the iPhone 5 next month, so the current model could very well be near its end of life (EOL). Additionally, shipping quotes on Apple’s site historically grow longer as new product launches approach, as noted by several reports.

UPDATE: As of Friday morning, Apple has removed estimated shipping times from its order page, replacing them with an “In Stock” note.

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It looks like we may finally see Apple unveil its mid-2011 MacBook Air models some time this week. Best Buy has stopped shipping all MacBook Air notebooks as of this past weekend. The online retailer is still taking orders, however, which indicates that Apple will likely not adjust pricing when it issues its refreshed models. Of note, unless Apple introduced an entirely new model at a much lower price point, this puts earlier rumored sales targets of 8 million units well out of reach. Several sellers on the Amazon.com website are showing low inventory or stockouts as well, further supporting the notion that Apple has stopped refreshing distributor inventory as it prepares to begin shipping updated MacBook Air models. Apple’s mid-2011 MacBook Airs are expected to feature Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O ports, among other changes.

Read [Best Buy] Read [Amazon]

On Wednesday Delivery.com — the popular food delivery service — launched a dedicated iPhone application. It offers a bunch of useful features, including a “nearby” feature to find restaurants that deliver nearby, automatic sync with your account, the ability to filter for cuisine, distance, or rating, and more. Users can check out using a debit card, gift card, or credit card, although we suspect that cash-on-delivery is still an option, too. The application is free in case you’re ever looking for McDonald’s delivery in NYC — yes, we’ve done that.

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Just ahead of Apple’s international launch of the iPad 2, replenishment of U.S. inventory appears to be incoming. BGR has confirmed with various Apple Store and third-party retailer locations that new shipments have begun to arrive over the past few days. Retailers we have spoken with in the New York metropolitan area appear to be receiving new units in very small quantities, and Wi-Fi iPad 2 tablets seem much easier to come by than 3G-enabled units. Apple’s online store also adjusted its shipping estimates for new orders down to 3-4 weeks from 4-5 weeks. While the short supply has lead many to believe Apple’s new iPad 2 is selling quite well, the company still hasn’t announced any sales figures.

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Some Apple Store locations may or may not be releasing a second wave of iPad 2 shipments to the public today, but potential buyers who would prefer not to deal with the chaos are in for some bad news this morning. Shipping times have varied a great deal in the short time since the iPad 2 was launched last week. Most recently, Apple listed shipping quotes of between two and three weeks. With rumors of new shipments floating around, many had hoped these shipping delays would be reduced as new inventory reached U.S. shores, but unfortunately that’s not yet the case. Apple’s online store now shows increased shipping delays of between four and five weeks, meaning orders placed today might not arrive for over a month. Apple’s shipping quotes typically err on the side of caution, however, so those who order the tablet today can expect to be pleasantly surprised when their iPad 2 ships early.

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Taiwanese handset giant HTC has announced a “strategic investment” made in the digital media-delivery company Saffron Digital. “Saffron Digital has developed an incredible expertise in mobile multimedia delivery,” said Peter Chou, HTC’s CEO. “This ability to deliver optimized content in the future will be a key asset as content becomes more and more complex and localized. We are excited to be working with Saffron to increase our global service delivery capabilities and expertise.” The company, which already does business with HTC, LG, Paramount Digital Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile and Nokia in Europe along with Samsung in the U.S., will, in all likelihood, bring digital content delivery to HTC’s Sense smartphone experience. The press release notes that Saffron will “continue to provide its cutting edge media and content services to its third party partners.” Hit the jump to check out the full announcement.

HTC Makes Strategic Investment in Saffron Digital, a Leader in Digital Multimedia Delivery

TAOYUAN, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced it is making a strategic investment in London-based Saffron Digital, a global leader in digital multimedia delivery.

“Saffron Digital has developed an incredible expertise in mobile multimedia delivery. This ability to deliver optimised content in the future will be a key asset as content becomes more and more complex and localised,“ said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “We are excited to be working with Saffron to increase our global service delivery capabilities and expertise.”

Saffron Digital has experienced a phenomenally successful year with its innovative technology integrated into products and services in Europe by HTC, LG, Paramount Digital Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile and Nokia, among others, and in the US by Samsung. It has entered into partnerships with industry-leading companies such as Microsoft, and Widevine, to ensure that customers are given the best possible video experience across a range of devices.

“HTC’s investment increases our global expansion capabilities and provides us with an opportunity to expand into new markets like Asia and new sectors like games and music delivery,” says Shashi Fernando, CEO of Saffron Digital. “We have grown Saffron Digital into one of the best and most exciting digital service providers in the world and this enables us to take digital content delivery to a new level for our customers around the world.”

Saffron Digital will continue to provide its cutting edge media and content services to its third party partners, which include device manufacturers, network operators and content providers in 26 countries. The company’s headquarters will remain in London and Los Angeles while its management team will continue unchanged.

About Saffron Digital
Saffron Digital is a global mobile delivery platform company, whose products and services are live in 26 countries and 14 languages. Its proprietary technologies, which include the ability to support multi-device media delivery, superfast encoding and Domain Based DRM, have been integrated into products by clients including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HTC, LG and Samsung, as well as services for Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Sky, T Mobile and Vodafone. Shareholders in the company include Beringea, NewSmith Capital and Duet Asset Management.

Saffron Digital is listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 EMEA for 2010, and also won the Best Video Service Provider at this year’s Mobile Entertainment awards.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

Today is the day a bunch of folks who stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to pre-order will finally begin to receive their Verizon iPhone 4 deliveries. We just snagged ours, and after a bit of a hiccup with activation on the device itself (it failed multiple times until we restarted the handset), it’s been smooth sailing. We’ll obviously follow up with some thoughts on the device versus the AT&T-flavored version, but in the meantime, hit our gallery for an unboxing and some hands-on photos, alright?

Are you waiting on the edge of your seat for that brand new Verizon iPhone 4 you stayed up all night to pre-order? We’ve been receiving tips that some devices pre-ordered this morning have already started shipping via FedEx standard overnight delivery, and should be arriving as early as 3:00PM tomorrow. Not a bad exclusive for existing Verizon customers, we’d say. Drop a comment below and let us know if your iPhone 4 has already shipped from Verizon, alright?

If you went ahead an pre-ordered yourself a Nokia N8, you might want to keep your eye on your mailbox. Nokia has announced that the company’s not-actually-a-flagship-but-sort-of-a-flagship Symbian^3 handset, complete with 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss lens, has begun shipping worldwide. Nokia’s blog writes:

Being a global device launch, the Nokia N8 is shipping in tens of different languages to dozens of operators around the world. That isn’t something that happens overnight and as factory production ramps up, so will the numbers of trucks leaving with freshly boxed N8s on board.

Whilst the first lucky users will be un-boxing their Nokia N8 before the weekend, others can expect to be receiving theirs over the coming days and weeks.

Anyone out there pre-order an N8?

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For those of you that managed to get in an online iPhone pre-order (via the online Apple Store) on June 15th before the pre-order Armageddon, you have a bit of good news in your inbox. Our tips box is full of future iPhone 4 owners who report having an email from Apple stating:

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.

Sounds good to us. Besides, a few thousand people activating a day early can’t hurt the chances of AT&T’s system actually staying up for the day. If your new iPhone does show up on the 23rd, as opposed to the 24th, make sure to send us a note and let us know what you think of the new device.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

You know we had to do one… But now that we (and practically most of the human race) have got a unit in hand, what do we think? In the really short time we’ve had it:

• It’s definitely heavier than you’d think but too heavy. We carry around 4-7lb laptops all the time, so 1.5lbs doesn’t sound like much, but it’s definitely a decent amount of weight in such a thin package.
• The screen is gorgeous. It’s just as you’d expect — Apple’s best-in-the-business multitouch capacitive top layer with a great IPS LED-backlit display — we’re in love.
• The packaging, as you might have seen by now is pretty sparse, but it definitely has that Apple feel to it. Included in the box are the unit itself, USB cable, charger, and that’s it!
• We really can’t believe how much this thing flies and how much we’re liking it. You really, really have to pick one up yourself and try it out!

But we’re sure you didn’t come here just to read what we had to say — you want the photos — and we’ve got an awesome unboxing gallery all ready to go. So, who went out and got one today or received one from UPS?

Click on over to our Apple iPad unboxing gallery!