To everyone complaining about the pre-order process, I think we all need to take a step back and understand that the complexity of having that many people order world-wide is far beyond what we probably understand, and I'm fairly confident that no one at Apple was sitting in their pre-order war room making sure some got screwed over.
The sheer number of different people all trying to access the site at the same time, not to mention the fact that in different countries the ordering process is very different (the states having carrier versions, versus ours all being unlocked, for example) must make it literally impossible to have a pure "First-come, first served" system. It just wouldn't be feasible. There must be so many intricacies with internet connection, timing, etc. that they have to do their best, with the programs they have in place, and trust their systems.
Yes, some people are going to get screwed in one way or another - I was in that boat last year with the 7+ and fortunately was not this year - but I am positive that no one is sitting in the Apple boardroom watching for any of your orders to come in to make sure they can put them behind others' orders. That's ridiculous. We just have to accept that it's as much a lottery system as anything else, and live with that fact. It's no different than trying to order concert tickets, etc.
Okay, rant over. I'm just tired of all the "woe is me" posts in this thread.
