Missed the first wave of Apple pre-orders by about 30 minutes and got the 2 week delayed shipping - by mid morning this was really bothering me and had decided to cancel and take my chances with standing in line at the Apple store on the 21st so I cancelled my pre-order. On a whim I stopped by the Radio Shack outside my neighborhood this evening at about 8:00 PM and they were accepting pre-orders with expected availability for 9/21. The clerk said they hadn't been able to confirm 9/21 but that they could guarantee pickup would be available by 9/22 at the latest. I made a point to clarify that by placing a pre-order I would have a phone waiting for me and that I wouldn't just be putting my name in a first-come, first-serve pool of whatever small stock arrived on the 21st. (I had called Best Buy earlier and this was how their pre-orders worked.) He advised phones were reserved on a 1:1 basis and would be held up to 3 days for those who pre-ordered.
Better still, the way they handle pre-orders is this: you put $50 down on a gift card that you get to keep with you until launch day and they give you a receipt to reserve your purchase. The reservation doesn't lock up your upgrade eligibility, so if I call later in the week and they still haven't confirmed they're getting a shipment, I can take my chances camping out in line at the Apple store and get my discounted iPhone there. If I get a phone at the Apple store, I can use the RS gift card for a couple of lightning adapters and let someone else have the pre-order. Otherwise, I've got the pre-order at Radio Shack to fall back on, which shouldn't take 3 weeks to arrive regardless of whether it's there on the 21st or not.
