AT&T: iPhone 3G S pre-orders in the “hundreds of thousands”

Although some of its retail stores on the east coast have already run dry of their initial allotment of iPhone 3G Ss, Apple’s exclusive U.S. wireless provider AT&T tells AppleInsider that it sold “hundreds of thousands” of the new touch-screen handset during its online pre-order process.

“[AT&T] sold hundreds of thousands through our preorder process prior to the launch, which exceeded our own expectations for iPhone 3G S,” Michael Coe, a representative in the carrier’s corporate communications department, wrote in an email Friday. “Just wanted to make sure you have this information as well.”

Although Coe declined to comment on whether that figure exceed 300,000 units, the “hundreds of thousands” statistic alone is likely to put first-weekend iPhone 3G S unit sales estimates from many Wall Street analysts underwater.

Read more: appleinsider.com