Apple to begin taking iPhone 5 Personal Pickup retail reservations in US tonight

While customers in international countries can already place a one-day reservation to get their hands on the iPhone 5 at an Apple retail store, the capability is set to come to the U.S. beginning tonight.

Apple's retail employees have begun informing customers that Personal Pickups for iPhone 5 orders will begin this evening at 10 p.m., AppleInsider has been told. Customers will be able to purchase their iPhone 5 online, and stores with inventory will hold the purchase for pickup the next day.

Retail Apple stores across the U.S. are said to have begun receiving shipments of new iPhone 5 units on Monday that will be held for customers to reserve through the Personal Pickup program on Tuesday. One customer was told that the reservation program in the U.S. will be accessible via the iPhone 5 page on Apple's website.

An announcement about the policy change was reportedly made internally to Apple's employees on Monday. Word then began spreading as the day went on.

For now, Apple's website still says that iPhone 5 purchases are available on a first-come, first-served basis. In contrast, customers in other countries, such as the U.K., have the option to reserve an iPhone 5 and pick it up the next day at an Apple retail store.

U.S. customers who reserve and purchase their iPhone 5 will reportedly have just one day to pick up their purchase. If they do not, they will lose the handset and their money will be refunded.

17 Comments

tylerk36 16 Years · 1035 comments

About 12 years ago

Plan to pickup my 5 million handsets later tuesday.

dick applebaum 18 Years · 12525 comments

How does this jibe with 3-4 weeks delivery?

If I order today, do I pay now and get a pickup date of 3-4 weeks + 1 day?

If so, Apple has established a new first in selling... "The Pay-Away Plan".

midway flux 13 Years · 3 comments

Exactly.. What's the sense in "Pre-Ordering"? Although I Pre-Ordered on Saturday, not Friday, I'm being made to wait 2-3 Weeks, but if I Order Now from Apple, I can go into a Store and just pick it up? Someone please explain to me how that makes any sense at all.. I'm almost better off canceling my PRE-ORDER and just buying one online now (AFTER PRE-ORDER) and picking it up myself?? I don't get it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midway Flux

Here's the big question... You can't buy an unlocked iP5 yet... So your preorder had to pass an anal exam by the carrier to tie you, your phone number and the device to a contract. If you cancel your pre-order, how long will it take the cancellation to percolate through the Apple/Carrier databases and free up your ability to buy another iP5 at the appropriate price?

And, what about all those special "Activation Charges", etc.... do they double up on those?

Anybody want to try and report back here?

jcc 17 Years · 340 comments

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

I did that on Friday. I cancelled the pre-order I had when I bought one directly at an Apple store. At the time the Reps told me that it will be instantaneous but it turned out that it can take up to 72 hours for the system to credit you back the subsidy on AT&T. That means I had to pay full price for the phone. What the reps didn't know at the time was that you can call AT&T's customer service directly to cancel the pre-order and a supervisor can free up the subsidy right away allowing you to buy the phone with the subsidy immediately. Now I'm stuck with a full priced phone until the store restocks as I actually have to return the the full priced phone and then buy a new phone with the subsidy. It's all very crazy. Apple said that I couldn't just return the one I have and then re-purchase the same to get it on the subsidy as their system won't allow customers to buy returned items. Oh well.

So, to reiterate, if you're an AT&T customer and you pre-ordered. Make sure when you're at the Apple store to pickup a new phone, to call AT&T and have them cancel it and immediately free up your subsidy. You can then proceed to buy the phone directly from Apple at the subsidized price. The pre-order has to not be in process or shipped status obviously.