SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Verizon Wireless said Friday that it has stopped taking preorders for the iPhone 4 — just 17 hours after the device went on sale at the carrier. 
 
 In a statement, Verizon /quotes/zigman/262341/quotes/nls/vz VZ +0.54% said it halted orders at 8:10 p.m. Eastern Thursday. The company said it sold more units of the popular Apple Inc. /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL +0.76% device in the first two hours of availability than any other device launch in its history, but did not provide specific numbers. 
 
 Click to Play Verizon iPhone or AT&T iPhone? WSJ's Walt Mossberg discusses his Verizon iPhone review, in which he compares voice calling and data speeds to the AT&T version. 
 
 The phone will be available for purchase Feb. 10 for customers who did not preorder the device. 
 
 Shares of Apple rose 0.7% in early trade, while Verizon shares slipped 0.7%. 
 
 The iPhone has been available exclusively at Verizon’s main rival — AT&T; Inc. /quotes/zigman/398198/quotes/nls/t T -1.01% — since its initial launch in the summer of 2007. Apple decided to expand the device’s footprint in the U.S. market and is expected to do the same in other markets in the coming months. 
 
 “We believe this is quite a statement around the pent-up demand from Verizon customers for the iPhone 4, and we believe this speaks to the potential trajectory of demand with Verizon in 2011,” Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities wrote in a note to clients Friday. 
 
 Verizon and AT&T; are closely matched in terms of customer base. The iPhone has boosted AT&T;’s share of the smartphone market, while Verizon has built up its own presence in the past year with the popular Droid family of phones that run on the Android operating system from Google Inc. /quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG +1.75% . 
 
 AT&T; will boost its own portfolio of Android devices this year to counter some of the growth Verizon is expected to see with the iPhone. Also, both networks will be promoting their new 4G services and devices heavily this year, though the current models of the iPhone are not enabled for those services. 
 
 The iPhone is Apple’s most popular product and its largest source of revenue. The company sold about 47.5 million units of the device in calendar 2010, generating about $30 billion in revenue — about 40% of the company’s total revenue base for the year. 

 In two hours, Apple's smartphone breaks all the carrier's first-day launch sales 
 
 
 
 That didn't take long. 
 
 Verizon (VZ) announced Friday that it had halted pre-sales of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, having burned through its first shipment in less than a day. 
 
 It took only two hours -- from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. EST Thursday -- for the company to sell more phones than any first-day launch in its history, according to Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead. 
 
 Within 17 hours it had run out of its "limited" supply -- which RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky estimates at something less than 100,000 units. (That number that seems low compared with the 600,000 iPhone 4s Apple pre-sold in one day last June.) 
 
 In any event, the stock out, Abramsky told clients, "affirms the strong pent-up demand for the Verizon iPhone, and bodes well for initial sell-through." 
 
 Based on first-day sales, Susquehanna's Jeff Fidacaro estimates that Verizon will sell 2.9 million iPhones before the end of March and a total of 11.6 million iPhones in 2011. 
 
 Some customers who pre-ordered iPhones have already been notified that their units have shipped. Retail sales of iPhones Verizon's outlets begin Feb. 10 at 7 a.m. local time. We expect to see some lines. 
 
 Also on Fortune.com: 
 
 [Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped] 

 Show full PR text 
 
 VERIZON WIRELESS HAS RECORD SALES ON FIRST DAY OF iPHONE 4 
 
 
 
 Available to General Public on Feb.10 
 
 
 
 BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – At 8:10 p.m. EST yesterday, Verizon Wireless ceased online orders of iPhone 4 to existing customers and ended the most successful first day sales in the history of the company. 
 
 
 
 "This was an exciting day," said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer for Verizon Wireless. "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history. And, when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is an incredible success story. It is gratifying to know that our customers responded so enthusiastically to this exclusive offer --- designed to reward them for their loyalty. 
 
 
 
 "I am proud of our employees who worked tirelessly to strengthen and scale our systems, enabling unprecedented customer orders through our website. Overall, it was a very good day," he added. 
 
 
 
 Mead also said customers will have another opportunity at being among the nation's first to own an iPhone 4 on the Verizon Wireless network. 
 
 
 
 "Yesterday's launch set the pace for next week when we open up sales to everyone across America." 
 
 
 
 The general market launch of the iPhone 4 on the Verizon Wireless network will occur on February 10. The company will open its more than 2000 Verizon Wireless Stores at 7 a.m. It will also be available at all Apple store locations, Best Buy, select Wal-Mart stores, and on-line at verizonwireless.com and apple.com.
– Verizon Wireless sold out of iPhones just 17 hours after putting a limited number on sale for pre-order yesterday, smashing the company's sales record for any device, reports MarketWatch. In fact, the single-day record fell after only the first two hours—those being 3am to 5am. Verizon released no sales figures, "but judging from the server issues it was having immediately after making the handset available and the subsequent shutdown of advance pre-orders, we'll go ahead and guess it was 'a lot,'" writes Engadget. Normal sales begin Feb. 10. One analyst tells Fortune that Verizon probably sold about 100,000 phones yesterday. Another figures that Verizon will sell about 3 million by the end of March and about 11.6 million this year. "Overall, it was a very good day," says a company official. "Yesterday's launch set the pace for next week when we open up sales to everyone across America."