Katie MarsalThe US carrier's internal sales system is asking staff to tell customers that any pre-orders made on Saturday the 13th or later won't ship on launch and instead will reach retail locations between 7 and 14 days after the order is made, overshooting the release date.
Those who delayed their pre-orders long enough but who still want an iPhone 3G S the same day will have to wait at an AT&T (or Apple) store until regular availability starts at 8 a.m. rather than the 7 a.m. early access time touted earlier this week, Boy Genius hears. Any pre-orders, however, will receive an e-mail once their device is in stock.
While unfortunate for those who hadn't already set aside money for the faster, more feature-laden Apple smartphone, the sell-out bodes well for early sales, which will include not only retail pick-ups but, unlike last year, online pre-orders. Some had feared that high upgrade fees for customers who bought a previous iPhone too soon to qualify for a full discount would deter many from queuing up in the same way they had in 2008.
Besides Apple and AT&T outlets, Best Buy and Walmart locations should also have the iPhone 3G S for sale on June 19th, albeit with regular store hours.
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190 Comments
Any idea if this is also true for pre-orders through the Apple website?
Any idea if this is also true for pre-orders through the Apple website?
The Apple website VERY clearly says on each page of the pre-order that pre-registering for an iPhone through the web site DOES NOT GUARANTY the availability at the Retail Store -- although Apple will allow those who are pre-registered in at 8 am to pick up their iPhones while the regular sales line will start processing at 10 am. You are pretty much in good shape to pick it up at Apple stores instead since they ship hundreds (thousands in some stores) of units, whereas ATT gets a smidgen of them (20 - 100 per store for the 3G launch last summer)
You can also purchase your iPhone 3Gs at the Apple Online Store -- as of this week they were delivering them to you ON the 19th -- that apparently is also already back to the 23rd according to the Apple Forums on the iPhone threads...
Just a reminder to everyone -- if you have ANYTHING at all that has to be fixed on your ATT line, the sale will NOT go through at the Apple stores -- i.e. you can upgrade your own line, or buy a new line of service, but you can't switch phone numbers, nor do anything like move one line from a family line to your iPhone line, etc....all that has to be done at ATT stores.
Any idea if this is also true for pre-orders through the Apple website?
Yes, I was talking to an Apple Tech on the store chat because I wanted to switch from a reservation to just getting it shipped to me and she said the following.
?\tYou are chatting with Yolanda, an Apple Expert
?\tHi, my name is Yolanda. Welcome to Apple!
?\tYou: Hello, Earlier in the week I preordered an iPhone and decided to reserve it at the store, unfortunately I won?t be able to pick it up at the store. Can I now just re-preorder it and have it shipped to me? Or will there be a problem?
?\tYolanda: Good evening.
?\tYolanda: How may I help you today?
?\tYolanda: You can call Customer Service to cancel the order.
?\tYolanda: If you don't show up on the 19th, that is okay acutally.
?\tYolanda: The numbers of orders has exceeded the first shipments to the stores.
?\tYolanda: Meaning we are expected to not have enough on the 19th to give out anyway.
?\tYolanda: its okay if you go in a day or two later for pickup.
?\tYou: Okay, thank you very much
Sales will be much larger than the 3g when it came out. So much for all the whining from nay sayers about upgrade costs.
I was hoping to pre-order my iPhone 3G S from the Apple Store and have it delivered to my house, and even saved the phone into my "Saved Items" on the Apple site, which still says it will be delivered on the 19th. Somewhat sad that it wont be here on the 19th, but oh well.