Believe the hype. The Verizon iPhone will take over.

The much anticipated smartphone will be the next craze in New York.

Brendan McDermid / Reuters / File

An Apple staff demonstrates a new Verizon iPhone 4 at Verizon's iPhone 4 launch event in New York on Jan. 11. Guest blogger Joshua M. Brown predicts that Verizon iPhones will be as popular in Manhattan as tapas restaurants were in 2004.

By Joshua M. Brown Guest blogger

Feb. 04, 2011, 1:36 p.m. ET

Yes, for New Yorkers this IS the Jesusphone. The fabled Verizon iPhone will now be taking over Manhattan this year like tapas restaurants started taking over (inexplicably) in 2004 - which, I mean, really, what's the appeal of "small plates"? I'm hungry, why would I be excited about small plates? Oh yeah, 'cause you can get a lot of small plates, fine I get it now...

From the New York Post:

Verizon Wireless said Friday that it ceased online advance orders for the Apple iPhone 4 after its launch day marked the most successful first-day sales in the company's history.

Verizon, the top US carrier, offered its existing customers the chance to preorder the iPhone on its website ahead of the official launch in stores Feb. 10.

"This was an exciting day. In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first-day launch in our history," Verizon Wireless president and CEO Dan Mead said. "And, when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3:00am and 5:00am [local time], it is an incredible success story."

Sorry BlackBerry, go make your peace with whatever Canadian god you pray to when your charge is running low.

Source:

Verizon halts online iPhone 4 orders amid record sales (NYP)