Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House recently said that pre-orders for the company’s brand new portable gaming console, the PlayStation Vita, have sold out in Japan ahead of its December 17th launch. “I’m pretty confident… that there will not be major challenges in meeting demand, even though there may be short-term,” House explained to reporters recently. As the Associated Press points out, a successful launch in Japan could help soften the blow of Sony’s predicted fourth consecutive annual loss. The PlayStation Vita was originally announced during E3 2011 and we were impressed with the gaming performance during our early look at the device. The Vita will launch in the United States on February 22nd for $249.99, and a second version compatible with AT&T 3G will be released at a later date for an additional $50.

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Sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S have reportedly been surprisingly slow in South Korea, where wireless customers are reportedly disappointed with the phone’s poor performance and lack of features. The Korea Times on Wednesday said that customers are passing on the iPhone due to problems with the phone’s battery life and the lack of support for 4G LTE. The paper reports that pre-sales of the iPhone 4S have totaled between 150,000 and 300,000 units combined at SK Telecom and Korea Telecom, citing unnamed carrier officials in stating that a number of pre-orders have recently been cancelled. Read on for more.

“I dropped my plan to buy the iPhone 4S. It’s not wholly-new and also there are big problems relating to hardware-related issues,” one iPhone 4 owner told The Korea Times. “I am a big Apple fan. But I’m very disappointed by the uncompetitive iPhone 4S.” Local press and customers in the region have been vocal in complaining that the new iPhone failed to meet their high expectations.

The report also cites the iPhone 4S’ lack of 4G LTE compatibility as a barrier to the handset’s success. Many South Korean cell phone users seemingly have a need for speed that outweighs any desire they might have for the Apple handset. “The key point is how Korean carriers effectively manage LTE networks to attract more clients,” a mobile phone shop owner said. “Since LTE is new, there are also complaints about its quality. If LTE services do well, then more people will switch as carriers give more subsidies to customers who buy LTE smartphones.”

“Except for the ‘Siri’ function, I didn’t find any wow factors about the iPhone 4S and that’s why I decided to buy Samsung’s LTE smartphone,” one man complained. “Also Siri doesn’t support Korean language and that means the iPhone 4S is technically the same as the iPhone 4. Why should I pay more to buy the same thing? It’s nonsense to purchase the 4S just to show my personal tribute to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs”

Internationally, Apple’s latest iPhone has seen record sales following its launch. Apple announced that it sold more than 4 million iPhone 4S handsets during the device’s debut weekend, making it the fastest-selling smartphone in history despite launching in just seven markets.

Amazon has reportedly increased Kindle Fire orders with its manufacturing partners following stronger than expected demand for its premier tablet. DigiTimes reports that more than 5 million units are now on order in 2011 as pre-orders for the $199 tablet remain strong; the online retailer took nearly 100,000 pre-orders on the first day of pre-sales availability alone. Amazon had already increased its orders last quarter according to the site’s anonymous industry sources, from 3.5 million to 4 million units. The Kindle Fire will launch on November 15th featuring a 7-inch display, a soft-touch case and deep integration with numerous Amazon services, granting users access to streaming music, streaming movies and of course, a huge library of eBooks.

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Apple iPhone 4S pre-orders in Hong Kong sold out within just 10 minutes, analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities said Monday in a note to investors. Pre-orders began last Friday and the phone will officially land in stores this Friday. White estimates that the Chinese market will be key to Apple’s continued growth. The analyst believes Apple’s revenue from “Greater China” — mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — topped $4.5 billion last quarter, a 270% increase from the same quarter in 2010. That figure was 16% of Apple’s total sales, up from the 2% of sales that Greater China represented in 2009. Apple currently owns and operates six official Apple Stores in China. White reiterated a Buy rating on Apple stock with a price target of $666.

Apple’s iPhone 4S is the company’s best smartphone to date, and it’s also the fastest-selling phone Apple has ever launched. Continuing Apple’s mobile warpath, the iPhone 4S will be available in two huge markets in Asia later this month on November 11th. The smartphone will hit Hong Kong and South Korea in addition to 13 additional countries, Apple said on Tuesday. The iPhone 4S is already available in 29 countries, and by the middle of the month, the fastest-selling device in the world will be available in 42 countries total, with more than 70 countries on the list before the end of the year. Apple’s full press release is below.

CUPERTINO, California—November 1, 2011—Apple® today announced that iPhone® 4S, the most amazing iPhone yet, will be available in Hong Kong, South Korea and 13 additional countries on Friday, November 11. Customers will be able to pre-order iPhone 4S beginning on Friday, November 4.*

iPhone 4S is packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.

Beginning Friday, November 11, iPhone 4S will be available in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. iPhone 4S is available today in 29 countries around the world and will be available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

iPhone 4S comes in either black or white for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model, $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.** iPhone 4S is sold through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 is available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS is available for free with a two year contract from participating carriers.

*Pre-orders not available in Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro and Panama.

**Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year rate plan, sold separately.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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.

Pre-sales of Apple’s new iPhone 4S have sold out at all three wireless carriers in the United States, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The report cites information on each carrier’s website, with AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint each showing that launch day availability of the iPhone 4S is no longer possible for new pre-orders. Delivery estimates on AT&T’s website now sit at three to four weeks while Verizon Wireless shows a delivery date of October 28th for new pre-orders. Sprint’s website lists the 16GB iPhone 4S as sold out while pre-orders are still being taken for the 32GB and 64GB models, though launch-day fulfillment will not be possible according to Bloomberg. Quite a disappointment indeed.

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Despite assorted cries of disappointment following Apple’s iPhone 4S unveiling last Tuesday, pre-sales of the company’s latest smartphone have seemingly been nothing short of stellar. But this is hardly a surprise. AT&T sold more than 200,000 iPhone 4S handsets during the first 12 hours of pre-order availability, making this the carrier’s most successful iPhone launch to date according to a company spokesperson. No other carriers have revealed pre-order figures thus far, but Apple took in a total of 600,000 iPhone 4 pre-orders across all carriers and distribution channels last year on the first day of pre-sales availability. That figure was a record for Apple at the time. Read on for more.

As of Friday evening, less than one day after the iPhone 4S became available for pre-order, delivery estimates from Apple’s online store slipped from October 14th to “1-2 weeks,” indicating inventory from Apple’s first round of iPhone shipments has already been depleted. Apple’s new iPhone 4S features the same glass and metal build as its predecessor, but it includes an upgraded 8-megapixel camera and a dual-core A5 processor as well as Apple’s new voice-driven personal assistant software, Siri.

Despite preliminary complaints from an apparent minority, analysts still have high expectations for Apple’s latest smartphone and the iPhones 3GS and 4, which both saw price drops as Apple’s new iPhone model was unveiled. Wedge Partners’ Brian Blair, who modeled for an incremental iPhone refresh amid rumors of a redesigned iPhone 5, estimates that Apple shipped between 24 million and 25 million iPhones in the September quarter. The analyst sees that figure growing to 27 million units in Apple’s December quarter.

Apple announced earlier this year that it sold 20.34 million iPhones into sales channels in the June quarter, making it the world’s No. 1 smartphone vendor by volume in the second calendar quarter this year.

Sprint subscribers who have been waiting since 2007 for their carrier of choice to finally land the iPhone breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday when Apple confirmed that the nation’s No. 3 carrier would soon offer both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S. Sprint also confirmed on Thursday that it will indeed be offering unlimited data plans to iPhone users, and that pre-sales of the iPhone 4 would begin immediately while iPhone 4S pre-orders start on Friday. BGR sought clarification on the pre-order process following an anonymous tip we received, and Sprint has confirmed that iPhone pre-sales will be accommodated entirely online. Sprint’s retail stores will not have the ability to take iPhone pre-orders, and the carrier also confirmed to BGR that Sprint stores will not offer “Device Wait Lists,” meaning customers cannot add their names to a list in order to be guaranteed a device on launch day. Sprint will begin selling the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S on Friday, October 14th.

Amazon reportedly sold 95,000 Kindle Fire tablets during the device’s first day of pre-sales availability alone. According to estimates from market research and intelligence firm eDataSource, pre-order sales of Amazon’s upcoming premier tablet may be on an astounding pace. To put the company’s estimated day-one sales in perspective, RIM sold just 200,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets into sales channels during the entirety of its second fiscal quarter. How did eDataSource arrive at the 95,000 figure? ”eDataSource’s panel of 800,000 inboxes allows us to gain insight into eCommerce sales” eDataSource CEO Carter Nicholas said. “Within hours we can get a read on hot product launches based on sales from leading eCommerce websites.” The company’s system then scours inboxes for purchase receipts and that data is used to estimate daily orders. As far as accuracy, the eDataSource notes that its first-day sales estimate for iPad in 2010 was 350,000 units; Apple would later announced that it sold “over 300,000 iPads” on the tablet’s first day of availability. EDataSource’s full press release follows below.

Kindle Fire Sales Reach an Estimated 95,000 Units During First Day of Sales According to Estimates Provided by eDataSource

eDataSource, a leading provider of online competitive intelligence, estimates that sales of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire reached 95,000 units during the first day that the device was made available through Amazon’s website.

“eDataSource’s panel of 800,000 inboxes allows us to gain insight into eCommerce sales” said Carter Nicholas, CEO of eDataSource. “Within hours we can get a read on hot product launches based on sales from leading eCommerce websites.”

By analyzing purchase receipts received by email, eDataSource is able to estimate the daily orders places at major ecommerce sites as well as what products are being purchased. eDataSource can then report on eCommerce trends at large or specific product sales.

The launch of the Kindle Fire, priced at $199, was announced on September 28 by Amazon and made available for pre-order immediately on the Amazon website. Shipments will take place starting in November. Simultaneous with the launch of the Fire, Amazon announced three other new Kindles, with prices of $79 for the new Kindle, $99 for the new Kindle Touch, and $149 for the Kindle Touch 3G.

Despite the higher price point, the Kindle Fire outstripped sales of the other three new Kindle units combined, according to eDataSource’s estimate. eDataSource estimates that sales of the other new Kindle units totaled approximately 25,000 units during the same period.

Lastly, recognizing that the folks who provide accessories often rake in the profits when fancy new devices are sold, eDataSource notes that 27% of Kindles were sold with some kind of accessory, and Marware protective covers were by far the most popular accessory for the Kindle Fire.

In April 2010, eDataSource estimated the number of iPad purchases to be 350,000 on the first day that product came to market. This compared to the 300,000 Apple subsequently reported for first day sales.

While Samsung’s tablets continue to run into Apple-shaped walls abroad, the South Korea-based electronics giant’s latest Android tablet is now available for pre-order at Best Buy here in the U.S. Announced at CTIA back in March, the GALAXY Tab 8.9 is positioned between Samsung’s 7-inch tablet and its flagship 10.1-inch slate, the GALAXY Tab 10.1. It runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb and includes 1GB of memory along with either 16GB or 32GB of storage, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and an 8.9-inch WXGA display. Both Tab 8.9 models are now available for pre-order on Best Buy’s website, and pricing lines up with the previously announced $469.99 (16GB) and $569.99 (32GB) price points. No launch date is provided on the Best Buy website.

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China’s No. 3 wireless carrier is readying a massive marketing and advertising blitz as it prepares to begin taking iPhone 5 pre-orders at the end of this month, a report claims. Chinese-language daily newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily on Wednesday reported that China Telecom has already begun training staff in preparation for the launch of Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone handset. Sales of the device will begin in October, however the carrier will reportedly be opening pre-order sales toward the end of September. Southern Metropolis Daily also notes that China Telecom may increase the subsidy it offers on the new Apple smartphone in an effort to bump sales, and the carrier is also rumored to be prepping a 1.5 billion yuan ($235 million) marketing and advertising campaign surrounding the iPhone 5. With the country’s top carrier, China Mobile, expected to offer the iPhone 5 as well this fall, China Telecom’s aggressive strategy should do well to help bolster sales.

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Fusion Garage’s first tablet reportedly received a grand total of 90 pre-orders before being discontinued, and it looks like the company’s sophomore effort isn’t doing much better. Fusion Garage hasn’t even begun selling the Grid10 tablet it unveiled at a fake press conference last month, but the former JooJoo maker has already dropped the device’s end user price by as much as 40%. Announced on August 15th, the Grid10 tablet features a 10.1-inch 1366 x 768-pixel display, a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset and the company’s proprietary Grid OS. Fusion Garage announced two versions of the slate during the unveiling: a $499 Wi-Fi version and a $599 model with 3G connectivity. Fast forward to today, and the devices are now just $299 and $399, respectively. There is no word on whether or not early pre-orders will be refunded the difference, and Fusion Garage said the tablet will launch on September 15th.

[Via Engadget]

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Apple has yet to announce it’s fifth-generation smartphone, but that apparently won’t stop German carrier Deutsche Telekom from selling it. Bloomberg reported on Monday morning that it has confirmed with Deutsche Telekom that, beginning today, DT subscribers may begin reserving Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone. The carrier will hand out coupons to customers who reserve the device, despite the fact that no confirmed details surrounding the next iPhone are available. Not even the name of the device is confirmed at this point. Apple is expected to launch a fifth-generation iPhone and an updated fourth-generation model some time next month. Invitations to a special media event at which Apple will unveil the new phones are expected as early as this week.

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