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

SF store.

picked up my iphone this morning about an hour after the store opened.

They had a good amount from what I saw in the counter, definitely more white then black iphones thats for sure.


I was in and out within 10 minutes, pretty awesome.
 
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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But that is the whole point of unsubsidized pricing. They make up the money they lose on the contract. So the point still isn't valid.

When I bought my no contract phone at Verizon yesterday, I asked if I could just buy the phone, take it home and activate it online (I was in a hurry). The sales rep said, sorry we have to activate it in store. I asked why. He said, so you can't turn around and sell it to someone. I asked how activating it in the store would prevent me from selling it to someone. He chuckled and said, that's true, but we still have to do it here.

Took an extra 10 minutes, no biggie :)
 
jbromer said:
But that is the whole point of unsubsidized pricing. They make up the money they lose on the contract. So the point still isn't valid.

When I bought my no contract phone at Verizon yesterday, I asked if I could just buy the phone, take it home and activate it online (I was in a hurry). The sales rep said, sorry we have to activate it in store. I asked why. He said, so you can't turn around and sell it to someone. I asked how activating it in the store would prevent me from selling it to someone. He chuckled and said, that's true, but we still have to do it here.

Took an extra 10 minutes, no biggie :)
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But doesn't the money from unsubsidized pricing go to Apple, not the carrier?

Or does Apple give the different wholesale pricing for phones sold but not activated?
 
I had a pre order with apple but the scheduled delivery wasn't until Oct. 9-15th. So I figured I'd give it a shot today and went to my AT&T store at about 4 p.m. They had one 32 gig black IP5 left so I called Apple while I was in the store, cancelled my pre-order (still processing) and my upgrade eligibility was restored immediately. So now I have my 5 the day after launch instead of a month after :D

On a side note my AT&T got a new shipment in today and said they would probably be getting shipments daily or every other day for a few weeks. And they still had 1 64 gig black and multiple 32 and 64 gig whites.
 
I went to an AT&T store by my house in San Diego to see what cases they had today. They were stopping everyone at the door and making them wait in line, for anything not just the iPhone. I incredulously asked the guy if he was serious that I had to wait in line to look at cases and he said yes. Has anyone seen that? I left and went to another AT&T store about 2 miles away and they were not doing that.
 
jbromer said:
But that is the whole point of unsubsidized pricing. They make up the money they lose on the contract. So the point still isn't valid.
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Yes and no. Sure, buying the phone outright saves AT&T the upfront subsidy, but it also means you may be more likely to jump ship when T-Mobile is done refarming their network, or to Verizon or Sprint when the next hot phone arrives, or even one of the MVNOs who AT&T is somewhat forced (by FCC and anti-trust concerns) to sell capacity to at wholesale prices. If the phone is unlocked, then that also means they are less likely to sell you roaming minutes and data if you go overseas or on a cruise.
 
Stock is pretty low in northeastern Ohio...called tons of stores this morning and most of them had, if any, only 64GB black models. Finally found a store an hour away that had two white 32GB 5's and we went and picked them up.
 
Anyone from Northern California try to buy an iPhone 5 today at any Apple or AT&T Stores? If so, what's the status of availability?
 
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