Reports of problems with the iPhone 4's antenna band don't appear to be putting a damper on sales of the new Apple device.

The Apple store at Bellevue Square is sold out. Ditto Southcenter. As of earlier this hour, there was an estimated two-hour wait at the University Village location, with chances looking slim for latecomers. We weren't able to get through to the store at Alderwood Mall, which doesn't bode well for anyone thinking about giving that location a shot this evening.

The situation was similar today elsewhere across the country and in other parts of the world -- with widespread sell-outs demonstrating continued interest in Apple's popular line of phones.

Meanwhile, Apple this afternoon acknowledged that holding the redesigned phone a specific way when making phone calls can cause reception to deteriorate or calls to drop. The issue has caused problems for early users and generated complaints online.

"Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone," Apple says in a statement. "If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."

AT&T stores are expected to start selling the iPhone 4 on June 29, next Tuesday, to people who didn't preorder the device. The wireless carrier said earlier this week that preorder volumes of the iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than for last year's iPhone 3GS launch.

Down in San Diego, Microsoft chose today to open its fourth retail store near the Apple store at the Fashion Valley Mall. Joe Wilcox reports on BetaNews that the crowd at the Apple store was much larger, while the Microsoft line was filled with "mostly tween and teen girls hoping to get tickets to the Demi Lovato concert Microsoft will hold on Saturday in one of the mall parking lots."