*Update* Preorders have started, and Apple.com ship dates have already slipped. More info here.
If you want to get your iPhone 5 order in as soon as possible, you’ll have to get up (or stay up) in the middle of the night. Apple has verified to Wired that iPhone 5 preorders start at 3:00 AM in the Eastern time zone on September 14, which means 2:00 AM Central time, 1:00 AM Mountain, and 12:00 AM Pacific (midnight, those lucky ducks). You can preorder online at Apple.com’s store.
Do you really have to wake up that early in order to secure an iPhone 5 for delivery on September 21? If history is any guide, no, you can at least wait until a more decent hour in the morning. It took 24 hours for the iPhone 4S to sell out of its release-day-delivery inventory. After that, delivery of the iPhone 4S took 1-2 weeks. But then again, the iPhone 5 is likely to be a much bigger launch, so who knows if Apple will have enough to satiate the early birds.
