Apple iPhone fans in U.K. have flooded the O2 carrier's webpage with pre-orders for Apple's new iPhone 3G, which forced the company to take down the entire pre-order system, although only the portion handling upgrades from 2G iPhones was actually malfunctioning.

Existent customers complained that while the upgrade pre-order system was brought to its knees and had to be taken offline, new customers were able to order their iPhones, which were to be delivered on launch day, Friday July 11. Subsequently, O2 decided to cut off both categories and wait it out for the moment.

In the United States, the exclusive mobile carrier said that on July 11, its stores will open their doors for all the iPhone fans at 8 a.m instead of 6 p.m. as it happened last year. Also, AT&T said that all the activations will be done in-store, unlike last year.

The original iPhone went on sale last year on June 29, after it was unveiled on January 9 during the MacWorld.

According to Apple, last year, 270,000 iPhones were sold in first 30 hours and it will be interesting to see if the 3G iPhone will manage to break this record. Also, last year, Apple has sold one million iPhones in just 74 days.

AT&T has released the new pricing scheme for Apple's iPhone. Expectedly, the smartphone will be available at $199 for the 8 GB version and $299 for 16GB, with the two-year contract. Also, AT&T will offer a no-commitment option of $599 for 8GB and $699 for 16GB.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that Apple, as with all its products, charges significantly more for the iPhone. The markup is few-fold, as with its other products. It seems that the smartphone costs about $173 to make, according to research firm iSuppli.

The estimations don’t include other costs, such as software development, shipping and distribution, packaging, and miscellaneous accessories that come with each phone, which probably means that Apple spends around $199 to make a 8Gb iPhone, which is then sold with $599 unsubsidized, a three-fold markup. However, iSuppli said that Apple sells the device to carriers for about $499, which means they only charge a $300 markup on their side, with the additional $100 added by the carrier.

The second generation iPhone packs 3G, GPS, better battery life (300 hours for standby, 2G talk at 10 hours, and 3G talk of 5 hours, or 5-6 hours of browsing, 7 hours of video, and 24 hours of audio) and much more. It is also slimmer.