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I was on at one minute after and got the please wait. I didn’t get to place my pre-pre-order until 20 minutes after the hour. Ship dates had already been pushed back to the beginning of October. I was however, able to elect to pick it up at my local Apple Store on launch day.

Gold Pro Max 256
 
This was the easiest preorder I have ever experienced. When it hit 07:00 AM CST I killed the Apple Store app (I had it open and with the “we’ll be back message”) and relaunched it and it popped right up with my prepared order and got a pickup scheduled for in store with in store trade in straight through. I was shocked. Never had it that easy.
 
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