LOL. I don't understand how difficult it is to preorder. I got my order in with ATT at 1am on the 7th and the phone came at 11am on the 14th.
Simple.
Simple for you maybe, but I think that the majority of us that were or are in Backorder Hell have had a different experience.
I don't think many of us would have had a problem with the phone coming a few days after the official release. I know it wouldn't have been a big deal for me.
However, it was the lack of communication and the varying wait times (ranging from a week to 4 weeks) that the CSRs were telling us when we inquired.
In addition, there was this whole "first come first served" statement, but based on how many people who ordered on the 8th were receiving their iPhones it caused many of us in Backorder Hell that pre-ordered in store on the 7th to question if there was anything wrong with our orders.
I believe that the fact that the store processed these as Direct Fulfillment so that they did not use up their allocation of phones (atleast that is the rumor around here) is the big issue. The store misrepresented to the loyal customers what they were doing.
In addition, had there been more communication from ATT regarding the status of our backorders and when they would ship, not to mention adhering to their own statements, I think most would have been happy and waited. I promise you I would have preferred not spending an extra $100 for the 32gb when I preordered the 16gb or the headache of wondering and having to go into the store to cancel the pre-order...
There are some who would never be satisfied even if they got it the day before launch... However I think the vast majority would have just wanted to have been communicated with.
But hey, thanks for pointing out how simple this was.
Don