iPhone 4, 8GB iPhone 3GS pre-orders open, minus white [updated]

Apple has officially opened pre-orders for the $199 16GB and $299 32GB versions of iPhone 4, formally announced last week at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA, as well as the new 8GB version of iPhone 3GS priced at $99. As of 4:00AM ET/1:00AM PT, customers may pre-order the new iPhone models for at-home delivery on June 24, 2010, or reserve the phone for in-store pick-up on that day at a local Apple retail store. Existing customers merely need to go through a quick process to determine upgrade eligibility for pricing, and may preserve their prior unlimited data plans or choose new $15/$25/$45 (tethering) options; new customers have to wait for the results of an online credit check, and may only choose between AT&T’s new, limited data plans. The early morning U.S. pre-order opening time appears to coincide with the start of the day in the United Kingdom, one of five initial countries where the new iPhones are becoming available.

Surprisingly, Apple’s web site does not offer pre-orders or reservations for the white iPhone 4 model, describing this color as “currently unavailable.” Late-breaking reports from third-party retailers suggested that merchants other than Apple would not have white iPhone 4 hardware available at launch; the fact that Apple itself is not yet offering the white version is unusual given its track record of immediately selling whatever colors it has pre-announced.

Update: Additional international pricing has been announced for U.K. and French iPhone 4 users: Apple is selling iPhone 4 units at unlocked prices of £499 (16GB) and £599 (32GB) in the United Kingdom, with French prices at €629 (16GB) and €739 (32GB). Quick checks of Apple’s foreign pages show additional restrictions on model availability outside of the United States, with German stores having no 32GB models at all, regardless of color, and only black 16GB units to pre-order.