At M1's Paragon store, a queue formed as early as 9am yesterday for its midnight launch, even though M1 customers can buy the iPhone 4 at seven outlets today.

StarHub also had a midnight launch at Plaza Singapura, and would decentralise the sales to 25 outlets from 10am today.

The telco said that, based on its experience with the iPhone 3GS launch, such "decentralisation should minimise overcrowding at any one shop".

Ms Shi Min, senior industry analyst with research firm Frost & Sullivan, said the iPhone 4 has seen strong demand worldwide, in spite of its reception problems.

Apple said it sold over 1.7 million iPhone 4s within three days of its launch in the United States last month.

"Singapore has a high iPhone penetration rate, representing ready demand," Ms Shi added.

In fact, demand has been so overwhelming that SingTel's collection slots for today and tomorrow have all been snapped up.

Online bookings for the slots began at 2pm on Wednesday.

The system caused some gripes. Software engineer Nick Rabuya, 25, wanted to book a slot online on a re-contracting basis, but it took too long to verify his phone number via the online booking site, he told my paper.

As a result, he lost the chance to get an early collection slot, as new customers could skip the step and get a booking sooner.

SingTel said the slowdowns were caused by the number of people trying to access its website simultaneously.

Its customers can also place orders for the phone at its retail shops and selected stores. But they may have to wait till stocks are available.

Some netizens on the HardwareZone forums have grumbled that they could not order the iPhone 4 through M1 and StarHub, despite having registered their interest online at an earlier date. Both telcos clarified that registering interest does not constitute an order but is a way to update customers about the phone's availability.