iPhone 6 : Americans Are Sold, Singaporeans On Hold

Shoppers wanting one of the new iPhones may have to wait until October due to shortages.   Record-breaking first-day pre-order sales that topped 4 million units were logged, outstripping supply according to Apple. Reuters reported that this weeks pre-order numbers were roughly double the volume of sales for the iPhone 5 two years ago.

And, according to various analysts, the first day enthusiasm  is only the start.  First weekend sales forcasted to be upwards of 10 million.

“Assuming pre-orders are similar to the 40 percent of first weekend sales for the iPhone 5, this would imply iPhone 6/6 “Plus” first weekend sales could be around 10 million,” Wells Fargo Securities analysts wrote in a note.

Raymond James was a bit more conservative in its estimates for first weekend sales with a forecast of 9 million units. How much customers are willing to buy however, may not be the most important piece of information to come out of the weekend, according the their analysts.

“Apple will be selling every iPhone it can make, at least through October. Because of this, the first weekend sales are typically more indicative of supply than demand,” they said.

For American consumers, that supply is lacking.  Apple is currently reporting a one month wait time for its  larger 5.5-inch “Plus” models, though the 4.7 inch screen model is still available for a September 19th delivery. Customers in The U.S., Canada and Australia will also be able to purchase iPhones in-store on September 19, 2014.

But one place where iPhone sales were not happening was in Singapore on the site of major telco M1, which suspended all orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus after a member of the public discovered a potential security flaw by hacking into the site.

“‘As a precaution to protect our customers’ personal information, we will be temporarily suspending pre-orders while we urgently investigate this issue,’ said the telco in a Facebook post.

The story reported that the attacker  used a cookie modifier plug-in on Google Chrome to access the personal data of M1’s customers on its website. Channel NewsAsia later broadcasted screen grabs of what the altruistic computer scientist turned white-hat hacker was able to access.  Among information he pulled up was phone numbers, NRIC and  home addresses.

“M1 places the utmost priority in protecting our customer data and privacy, and has implemented strict processes and procedures to safeguard customer information, including conducting regular security audits. We will be conducting a full review on this incident,” the company noted in a statement.

M1 also noted that before they were forced to pull the plug, the first batch of the  iPhone 6 they made available sold out immediately.