Buying an iPhone 5 on Saturday - stock / line reports?

j-a-x

j-a-x

macrumors 68000
I was sick yesterday and didn't make it out to an Apple store, but I am feeling good enough to go today. Does anybody know if the stores have stock today? I know it will vary by individual store but I was just wondering how likely it would be that my Apple store would get a new shipment of phones on a Saturday. Also, has anybody noticed if there are it still massive lineups today?
 
Bump... anyone have any insight?

I called two of the local Apple stores. One had not received a shipment yet but had a line, and the other told me "our policy has changed and I can't give you that information" when I asked about stock. :rolleyes:
 
This morning Grand Central had no AT&T models left but had some Verizon and Sprint phones. The line was short. They didn't know when they would get the next shipment. Things seem to be pretty orderly, sort of like the iPad rollout, except there are more shortages.
 
I was just at a Verizon store and best buy. No one was in VZW and they had 32g in both colors. No 16's. then I went to best buy and they had a bunch of people getting them (well, about 6-7) and they had a few left. Try a few places and I think u should be fine. Seems like everyone bought up the 16's but 32 and 64 seem good.

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87am said:
Out of luck. Nowhere will be getting new stock until next week at best.
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Where are u at? Every store that I was in last night and today all had stock. I was looking for case so I went to AT&T, 2 VZW's, & best buy, and all had stock.
 
AT&T iphones are sold out here on the east coast. Out of 5 apple stores none had AT&T. Verizon and Sprint are easy to get today.
 
Montgomery Mall (MD)

Didn't go in as I was just going to get an invisibleshield, but at the Apple Store at the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda MD, there were 3 or 4 people lined up at 10 AM, who all got in fast. I can't imagine they would have been waiting if there weren't any in stock...
 
jbromer said:
Didn't go in as I was just going to get an invisibleshield, but at the Apple Store at the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda MD, there were 3 or 4 people lined up at 10 AM, who all got in fast. I can't imagine they would have been waiting if there weren't any in stock...
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Verizon and Sprint only. I went there and bethesda row this morning.
 
Update: Grand Central got a shipment of AT&T phones at 2:00, and I was at the front of the line to buy one. I now finally have my no-commitment, unlocked device.

On a whim, I decided to check out 5th Avenue. There was a line outside with about 10 Apple employees manning it. I'd guess there are about 100-150 people being entertained by various street performers while the store lets in people in groups.

I went to Grand Central and milled around for a few minutes. I overhead an employee telling another "we'll be lining up again soon" and so asked at the head of where they had a setup for a line. I got right in. There were about 3 people who got in ahead of me, and maybe 10 more behind me. The sales person said our timing was perfect as we got in before the resellers (and that 10 minutes earlier they had none). Less than 10 minutes later I was walking back to my office with my 32GB in hand.

So my advice is just to try the stores. If they don't have any in the morning, try again in the afternoon. This has shades of the new iPad launch. Apple is doing a much better job of managing stock than they ever did in the pre-Cook era.
 
Some left

I tried the Apple Store on day one, no go. So today (Saturday), I went to two AT&T stores in Salem, Oregon, one was sold out. The other one had a few black 32 and 64's left, but they wouldn't sell me one with no commitment pricing per 'corporate policy'. They were complete c**ts, they wouldn't even sell me one on contract because they thought i would cancel after 30 days. (Note: I'm not a scalper, just a developer who needs the phone). I then walked across the street to Verizon, they were super friendly and got the last 32GB white one they had with no contract for $749. AT&T can go to hell.

So, there are a few places left with iPhone 5s, Verizon or Sprint is probably your best bet.
 
zeyank said:
I tried the Apple Store on day one, no go. So today (Saturday), I went to two AT&T stores in Salem, Oregon, one was sold out. The other one had a few black 32 and 64's left, but they wouldn't sell me one with no commitment pricing per 'corporate policy'.
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This makes no sense, as the Grand Central store associates were even asking people if they wanted to buy on or off contract. I bought mine off contract, as did someone in front and someone in back of me. From what I could tell, none of us were re-sellers (only buying one, one person said he wasn't eligible for upgrade, etc.).
 
zeyank said:
I tried the Apple Store on day one, no go. So today (Saturday), I went to two AT&T stores in Salem, Oregon, one was sold out. The other one had a few black 32 and 64's left, but they wouldn't sell me one with no commitment pricing per 'corporate policy'. They were complete c**ts, they wouldn't even sell me one on contract because they thought i would cancel after 30 days. (Note: I'm not a scalper, just a developer who needs the phone). I then walked across the street to Verizon, they were super friendly and got the last 32GB white one they had with no contract for $749. AT&T can go to hell.

So, there are a few places left with iPhone 5s, Verizon or Sprint is probably your best bet.
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I can kinda see AT&T's point. They make money selling phone contracts. They would essentially be costing themselves a sale for somebody whose status as a 'customer' would end the second they go the receipt when they would easily sell the same phone within minutes to someone they could lock up for 24 months.

I understand the frustration...but can see there point of view as well.
 
mantan said:
I can kinda see AT&T's point. They make money selling phone contracts. They would essentially be costing themselves a sale for somebody whose status as a 'customer' would end the second they go the receipt when they would easily sell the same phone within minutes to someone they could lock up for 24 months.

I understand the frustration...but can see there point of view as well.
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Yeah and I do as well, the thing that got to me most was how rude and arrogant they were. But I am glad they treated me like crap, I now have a Off contract Verizon iPhone 5 which is SIM unlocked (for now...hopefully forever), so it worked out very well.
 
KPOM said:
Update: Grand Central got a shipment of AT&T phones at 2:00, and I was at the front of the line to buy one. I now finally have my no-commitment, unlocked device.
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I'll echo this.. I went to Soho (2+ hour wait), 14th Street (2+ hour wait and didn't have the 32gb AT&T white) and then tried Grand Central around 3:30pm. Went up, talked to somebody for 2 minutes and they came back with 2 of the 32GB AT&T White devices. I asked for No Contract/Unlocked and paid full price. Walked out 5 minutes later. Beautiful.

Only question I have is the sales associated mentioned that the phone isn't factory unlocked it just isn't initialized to AT&T yet. As soon as the phone is turned on with an AT&T SIM it locks it down and only AT&T can modify that.

Has anybody gotten official word from AT&T that if you are on month-to-month (i.e. made it past the 2 year contract date) and buy the iPhone 5 unsubsidized, that they will unlock it for you?
 
Just replying to myself. I went to an Apple store and they had Verizon and Sprint iPhones only. I grabbed a 32GB Verizon with no wait. There was a girl at the door giving out cards for each phone to count stock (there were few enough phones that she had a card for each one). Anyways, I got what I wanted and I'm a happy guy now!

Good luck to all of you!
 
Depends where you are. I'm in the UK. I walked into town today and checked orange who claimed that they were only handing out to people who preordered but I went to the next shop along (phones 4 u) and walked out 20 minutes with an iPhone. Baring in mind I'm pretty sure 90% of the people in there were getting the same thing.
 
Vivid5500 said:
I'll echo this.. I went to Soho (2+ hour wait), 14th Street (2+ hour wait and didn't have the 32gb AT&T white) and then tried Grand Central around 3:30pm. Went up, talked to somebody for 2 minutes and they came back with 2 of the 32GB AT&T White devices. I asked for No Contract/Unlocked and paid full price. Walked out 5 minutes later. Beautiful.

Only question I have is the sales associated mentioned that the phone isn't factory unlocked it just isn't initialized to AT&T yet. As soon as the phone is turned on with an AT&T SIM it locks it down and only AT&T can modify that.

Has anybody gotten official word from AT&T that if you are on month-to-month (i.e. made it past the 2 year contract date) and buy the iPhone 5 unsubsidized, that they will unlock it for you?
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The sales associate is quoting the official line. They said that last year, too, and I used the 4S with a Vodafone SIM in Greece with no issues. However, as long as they sold it to you using the "Device Only" screen on their iPhone, and didn't ask for your wireless number, then it is unlocked. If you plug it into iTunes to set it up like I did, you'll get the "congratulations" message.

If it did wind up locked, per AT&T's own policies they will unlock it for you upon receipt of proof that you paid full price.

On a side note, Grand Central is quickly turning into my favorite Apple store. Even though Grand Central Terminal itself is full of tourists and commuters, and the store is busy, they never seem to have the issue with crowds that 5th Avenue or even the UWS have. I think it's because the police won't let a big crowd gather there. It's even better than the suburban stores because has the capacity of a big city flagship store.

If I had known it would be this easy, I wouldn't have pre-ordered. Now I have to go through the hassle of calling 1-800-MY-APPLE and returning the pre-order to reset my AT&T account (and probably move SIM cards, etc.). Either way, I got what I wanted.
 
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Just picked up a 64GB black iPhone at the Apple Store in Manhattan Beach, CA not an hour ago. That particular store had no AT&T phones left but still a fair amount of stock of VZW and Sprint models.

It wasn't that crowded either. No line, and I was in and out of the place in 10 minutes.
 
KPOM said:
The sales associate is quoting the official line. They said that last year, too, and I used the 4S with a Vodafone SIM in Greece with no issues. However, as long as they sold it to you using the "Device Only" screen on their iPhone, and didn't ask for your wireless number, then it is unlocked. If you plug it into iTunes to set it up like I did, you'll get the "congratulations" message.

If it did wind up locked, per AT&T's own policies they will unlock it for you upon receipt of proof that you paid full price.

On a side note, Grand Central is quickly turning into my favorite Apple store. Even though Grand Central Terminal itself is full of tourists and commuters, and the store is busy, they never seem to have the issue with crowds that 5th Avenue or even the UWS have. I think it's because the police won't let a big crowd gather there. It's even better than the suburban stores because has the capacity of a big city flagship store.

If I had known it would be this easy, I wouldn't have pre-ordered. Now I have to go through the hassle of calling 1-800-MY-APPLE and returning the pre-order to reset my AT&T account (and probably move SIM cards, etc.). Either way, I got what I wanted.
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Thanks for the update. I actually requested to have our 2 off contract iPhone4 devices unlocked two days ago but didn't know if the same AT&T request portal would work for the 2 iPhone5's if they ended up being locked. The sales associated did click "Device Only" on both of the purchases as I didn't give my phone numbers to her. I checked the bills again and they both say "No Wireless Service Activation during iPhone Sale" next to the AT&T Account Info. Guess I'm in the clear.
 
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