The iPhone 4S -- Apple's newest creation -- quietly went on pre-sale
at 12 a.m. on Friday. The homepage of the company's website, however,
remained a
dedication to the company's co-founder, Steve Jobs, who died on
Wednesday after a history of pancreatic cancer. The phone, which has
been panned by some critics who say it's more of a facelift to the
iPhone 4 than a new product, features a faster dual-
core processor and a camera with 8 megapixels of resolution. It also
has a "humble personal assistant" named Siri, which responds
to voice commands and talks back to you. Apple's new CEO, Tim Cook,
unveiled the phone on Tuesday, a day before Jobs' death was announced.
The phone's price ranges from $200 to $400 with a two-year wireless
contract. It's available on AT&T, Verizon and, for the first time, on
Sprint's network. The iPhone 4S goes on sale in stores on October 14
in the following
countries: United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan
and the UK. The new iPhone will be available in 22 additional countries
by the end of October, Apple says. Pre-sale orders can be placed at
Apple's online store, as well as on
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint's websites. All of those brick-and-mortar
retail stores also will carry the phone,
along with select Apple-approved retailers -- which as of Friday
morning had not been listed by Apple. BestBuy was making the phone
available for pre-order Friday on its site. Walmart's site said only
that the iPhone 4S was "coming soon."