Apple's new iPhone 3G sells out within hours of going online

The next generation iPhone hits the high street this morning, but the rush to pre-order on the internet was enough to crash the website and sell out within just a few hours. O2, the only mobile operator offering the iconic handset, saw peaks of 13,000 transactions per minute after opening online pre-registration at 8am on Thursday. Despite several millions pounds of investment, and processing capacity boosted by 250 times, the site stalled as the 16Gb iPhone sold out by lunchtime and the 8Gb version soon after. The iPhone 3G is available in shops from 8.02am today, and the network operator is expecting another rush. Ronan Dunne, chief executive of O2 in the UK, said: "We've never seen any mobile device create the excitement and demand of the iPhone 3G. We'll be working with Apple to continually replenish our supplies... [read full story]