IT seems that AT&T and Apple have decided that it is better that they have people queuing for days for the new iPhone 4.

When the iPad was released much hay was made by the press that the queues were less than those for the iPhone 3G. However in the UK there was lots of good press when iPad buyers queued to buy the beast.

Reports are now coming in that Apple and AT&T's pre-ordering system has mysteriously collapsed, meaning that punters will have to queue if they want the toy quickly. Gizmodo said AT&T's online system has collapsed, there are account security breaches, Apple's online upgrades are down, and stores are now using pen and paper to process sales.

Ironically people are having to go to an Apple store and queue to pre-order it. People are giving their credit card information to be put on a list to have a place in another line on June 24, when the iPhone 4 actually goes on sale.

The main problem appears to be AT&T's ordering system which uses a web interface. Basically, they were getting one pre-order done every 20 minutes by filling in the form and pressing submit several times until it went through.

Some readers are reporting security breaches while trying to access their accounts online. At least two people have ended inside other people's accounts. One reader told Gizmodo: “This morning while trying to pre-order the iPhone 4 through AT&T website, my login brought me to a ‘website unavailable' screen. After a refresh it brought me to the phone upgrade page logged in under a different account, some dude from Ohio”.

AT&T then took down its system completely, presumably to avoid the security errors and the frustrating experience and then finally stopped its stores from processing orders. The outfit is just taking credit cards and phone numbers.

Just when it could not get worse Apple's online store is also collapsing. Apparently the only place where you can order successfully was Best Buy.