iPhone Pre-Order Shipments Slip 2 Weeks

The launch date is September 21, but if customers use Apple.com to pre-order they may add two weeks to that gratifying moment of delivery.

About an hour after pre-ordering began at 12:01 a.m. Friday, the shipping dates on the site indicated that a two-week slip. When the iPhone 4S launched, it took 22 hours to exhaust Apple's supply, according to MacRumors.com.

If users order through their cell phone companies they're more likely to get the phone on time.

Or customers can roll the dice and get to an Apple retail store on September 21 and brave the inevtiable lines. Doors open at 8 a.m., btw.

Verizon, Sprint and AT&T stores will also have the tricked-out new handheld. And, for the first time, Wal-Mart is accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5 at it's U.S. stores, according to Bloomberg.

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