Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) customers couldn’t pick up new iPhones at the company’s stores on Friday -- the smartphone maker’s biggest product launch date of the year -- according to social media reports, after computer purchase systems failed at some retail locations.
Twitter users from Palo Alto, California to Short Hills, New Jersey, reported being stuck waiting at an Apple Store to pick up their prepurchased iPhone XS or XS Max due to an error with Apple’s systems. When preordering iPhones, consumers can choose between shipping their device to their homes or picking them up from a company retail store. The stores have systems in place to complete the transactions upon the customer’s arrival, but that infrastructure had launch day hiccups.
“Apple Store systems down,” Steven Sinofsky, a former Microsoft executive tweeted. “Can’t pick up phones today.”
Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The issue will likely only hurt Apple temporarily. The company typically sees an extended long weekend rush when the latest models of its signature product become available. The company stopped disclosing its opening weekend iPhone sales numbers a couple of years ago.
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