Is it possible to order online the iPhone 5S at 12:01 PST then pick it up at a store??? Or is strictly shipped?
In a chat with an Apple customer service rep I was told no.
Just go look at store.apple.com and do a mock order for a 5c. Observe the greyed out pick up in store option with the text of "avail Sept 20th"
One thing of interest, however, when you do this is that the greyed out in store pick up option does say "Coming Soon." However, it is not at all clear what "soon" means.
Another thing to consider, while the in-store pick up option may be available, there is no real reason to believe that we would be able to pick it up that day. They may instead just ship the phone purchased online to the store, in which case it would simply be available in the store for you to pick up within the same time frame that it would have been shipped to you, had you chose that option. I question whether or not they would let us purchase through the online store the phones that have already been delivered to the physical store. If anyone has any experience with a similar situation, please share.
I am imagining how angry people would be if they were in line at the Apple Store, anxiously waiting for the doors to open like good little Apple consumers, only to find that, by the time it is their turn to meet with a sales person to buy their new 5s, all the phones were sold to online customers a few hours earlier.
Indeed, if supplies are tight you cannot order for in store pickup on launch day or for a bit afterwards.They didn't do this for the 5 until a few weeks after launch.
Just got off the phone with an apple customer service person. They said we won't be able to do In Store Pickup for the first few weeks, she made it clear if I wanted it on the 20th I have to go in store, it pisses me off Apple is doing this just to get bigger lines for publicity.
After getting a iPhone 5 on launch day last year that had serious wifi problems I will never get a launch day anything again - I had to wait a couple of weeks to get the replacement which was much better. Sometimes it's better not to get the ones that were rushed out of the factory.
When the iPhone 4S came out, I was out of the country. When I got back, about a week later, I ordered it from the Apple Store app for in-store pickup. The one I wanted was sold out everywhere, but they sent me an email that my iPhone was ready for pickup at the Apple Store at 1PM the next day. When I arrived, I was told to get in line with everyone who was there trying to get an iPhone from the store's inventory as well as many who had "reservations" for in-store pickup. After waiting in line for two hours, I did get my iPhone at 3PM. I was shocked that I had to wait that long, but I was also grateful that I had one in my hand!