14 DAY TRIAL // The Apple Online store is down, likely to be brought back up in just a few hours with iPhone 4 pre-order availability. Hopefully, for Apple fanatics, the Mac maker will also confirm a number of rumored Mac upgrades, such as a beefed-up MacBook Air, new Mac minis, and more powerful Mac Pro workstations.
While these hardware upgrades remain to be confirmed, iPhone 4 pre-order availability is certain starting today. Softpedia reported hours ago that Best Buy’s mobile unit had announced it was on track to launch an iPhone 4 pre-sale. The retailer of consumer electronics confirmed in a report that, beginning with June 15, Best Buy Mobile was taking pre-sale orders at any Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile standalone store across the US.
The device becomes physically available on June 24. Apple itself revealed on June 7, following the Steve Jobs WWDC10 keynote address, that, “iPhone 4 will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on June 24, starting in the US at just $199 for qualified buyers with a two year contract.”
The Apple CEO was also quoted at the time as saying, “iPhone 4 is the biggest leap since the original iPhone. FaceTime video calling sets a new standard for mobile communication, and our new Retina display is the highest resolution display ever in a phone, with text looking like it does on a fine printed page. We have been dreaming about both of these breakthroughs for decades.”
FaceTime is one of the key new features in iPhone 4, as it allows video calls, though only over Wi-Fi for now. No setup is required, while users can instantly switch between the phone’s front and rear cameras to show others what the caller is seeing, or to allow them to see his / her face. Apple’s remarkable 3.5-inch Retina display has 960 x 640 pixels, four times as many as the iPhone 3GS and 78 percent of the pixels on an iPad, this being another strong point of the device.
iPhone 4 is set to ship pre-installed with iOS 4, the latest version of Apple’s powerful mobile operating system. It includes Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform, to name a few important additions. These features leverage Apple’s new A4 processor, which provides exceptional processor and graphic performance along with a long battery life, according to the phone’s makers.
Update: Store's back up! As expected, Apple is now accepting pre-orders for its next-generation handset. Predictions of additional announcements seem to have paid off as well. Cupertino has introduced a sleek new Mac mini. Check out the Apple online store here to get the full scoop.