Apple begins taking iPhone 4 pre-orders

Early this morning, Apple opened the floodgates for iPhone 4 pre-orders. You can now pre-order the black 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte iPhone 4 over at Apple’s online store — for $199 and $299, respectively — with a two-year contract, or if you’re eligible for an early upgrade. There’s no word on when the white version of the device will be up for pre-order.

You can arrange for the phone to be delivered on June 24 (its official launch day), or choose to pick it up in-store. My recommendation? Go for the delivery option for the most stress-free experience.

As is usually the case on the first iPhone pre-order days, Apple’s website is currently having trouble managing all of the requests. You can either wait until a quieter time to do it, or try pre-ordering from AT&T’s website, which seems to be going more smoothly for some people.

As we covered previously, both Best Buy and Radio Shack are offering pre-orders for iPhone 4 as well. The details seem to have changed a bit from our last report — a $50 deposit may no longer be required at Radio Shack, and Best Buy not be taking pre-orders until next week. The story seems to differ depending on location, so be sure to call your local store if you’re interested in pre-ordering.

There’s also the potential that Apple will force third-party retailers to stop taking pre-orders altogether, but there’s no word on that yet. Wal-Mart will also be carrying iPhone 4 at launch, but isn’t offering pre-orders.

Don’t miss MobileBeat 2010, VentureBeat’s conference on the future of mobile. The theme: “The year of the superphone and who will profit.” Now expanded to two days, MobileBeat 2010 will take place on July 12-13 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Register now. Tickets are going quickly. For complete conference details, or to apply for the MobileBeat Startup Competition, click here.