Mobile, Iphone 4g | featured news

As promised, Apple early today began taking pre-orders for its new iPhone 4, although only the black model was immediately available. Around 6 a.m. Eastern, however, the iPhone 4 page on Apple's U.S. online store was returning an "Oops! An error occurred" message. Minutes later, the entire store went down. It was back up around 8 a.m., and a Computerworld editor successfully ordered one of the iPhones (in black). But by 8:15 a.m., the store was again down, displaying a "We'll be back soon" message.

Apple Inc is widely expected to unveil its latest iPhone on Monday, as the company aims to stay a step ahead of rivals in an increasingly competitive smartphone market.

Apple Inc. hasn't said how much future generations of the iPhone will cost, but an editor of a technology blog said his site shelled out $5,000 to get its hands on a possible prototype.