While Apple announced at yesterday's media event that pre-orders for the iPhone 5c will begin on Friday, September 13, the company has not yet specified at what time it will begin taking orders. Information from U.S. carrier partners Verizon and Sprint indicates, however, that the pre-orders should go live at roughly midnight Pacific Time on Friday morning.
Given that Apple and its U.S. carrier partners typically begin pre-orders at the same time and the timing published by Verizon and Sprint is in line with that seen for the past several iPhone releases, it seems likely that the coordinated launch will once again take place at that time.
Verizon's pre-order information, available on the "Why Verizon?" tab of the carrier's iPhone 5s/5c feature page, allows potential customers to sign up for email updates on availability of the two new iPhones and states that pre-orders will be going live at 3:01 AM Eastern Time (12:01 AM Pacific Time) on September 13, but does not mention that those pre-orders are limited to the iPhone 5c models. Apple will not be offering pre-orders for the iPhone 5s ahead of its September 20 launch, and the company's carrier partners will undoubtedly be following Apple's lead.
Sprint has posted similar information on its website, announcing a 2:00 AM Central Time launch for iPhone 5c pre-orders, which corresponds to midnight Pacific Time.
Outside the United States, pre-orders for the iPhone 5c will also be going live on Friday for customers in the following countries: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. Apple's pre-order timing is likely to be the same for all countries, so customers should check their time zone conversions from Pacific Time. Local carriers may also have different pre-order start times in those countries.
(Thanks, Daniel!)
