iPhone 5C and 5S ready for pre-order in the US from 13 September

Verizon, one of the US’ major cellular networks, is on the verge of taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5C and 5S.

Don’t forget to check your upgrade availability…

Isn’t that just lovely? So tomorrow, 13 September, you’ll be able to sink some of your sweaty money into Apple’s latest iPhones.

More specifically, pre-orders for the 5C and 5S begin at 3AM EDT. Sprint , a Verizon competitor, is also accepting pre-orders from 3AM EDT. Now that’s a fair bit of cheek.

The iPhone 5C and 5S were announced earlier this week in a showy display of Apple marketing goodness, one is an upgrade of the iPhone 5, the other a “budget” phone for the iPhone-hungry masses. The prices of the iPhones are in line with what Apple usually offers, but the 5C – which is meant to be the cheaper phone – is in reality, bloody expensive.

In China, the iPhone 5C is going to sell for US$730 (US$549 back in the states) reports Reuters, unlocked. That’s pretty much an insane price any way you look at it. Apples share prices plummeted faster than you can say “Zune” after the announcement, and the 5C and 5S are to blame. Critics have said that the new phones are too similar to the older models, that there is little innovation to warrant the price, and that Apple’s best days are behind it.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at financial services firm Janny Montgomery Scott said, “Investors were put off that Apple’s price point didn’t go low enough to attract a new market. It doesn’t have the same range in price that Apple’s competitors have.”

Competitors include the rest of the smartphone-making world. When it’s possible to get better and cheaper phones from Samsung, Xiaomia and Huawei, a newer iPhone that offers very little to warrant a purchase suddenly seems like the worst possible buy. Has it got something to do with the Champagne iPhone 5S being designed in Miami?

This is all total crap of course