Preorders for iPhone 5 began at 12:01 this morning, but just an hour later heavy demand forced Apple to push back the shipping window for the device. First promised with a delivery date of September 21, it’s now showing a ship time of two weeks or longer.

Apparently, then, the device is much more highly anticipated than some reports initially suggested. Our own poll yesterday showed that only 16% of respondents were really excited about the new version, while 22% thought it seemed “OK,” and nearly 25% found it “Underwhelming.”

At 1 am last night, MacRumors was reporting that you could still possibly get a model by the launch date by ordering through your provider. However, checks with AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon this morning now also show 14-21 business-day waits for the device to ship. By contrast, the iPhone 4S sold out of launch-day preorder stock after 22 hours last year.

By 8 am this morning, Apple’s stock was trading at about $695, up $11.

If you’re still craving acquisition of the 5 before everybody else, AllThingsD notes that you could still go camp in line outside of an Apple retail store next Friday. Have fun with that.

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