Don't have a reservation? Day 2 is your best bet.

[ashVID]

According to my local Apple store they should have enough to cover all reservations. They will NOT sell a single phone to the walk-up line if they don't have enough to cover reservations. That is to say, if they get 100 phones and have 94 reservations, they will sell only six phones to walk-ups, even if only 75 people have shown up before close to pick up reserved phones. All of the left over reserve stock will then go to walk-ups on day 2.

So, if you don't have a reservation, you can spend hours in line, camping out, etc. on day one OR you can get there a little early on day 2 and likely have a much easier time of it.




ash =o)

 

[rmwhite]

Don't you think they would probably make a waiting list for the people in the walk up line?

 

[mysticbluebmw]

Probably not relevant as they should have inventory to cover all reservations AND plenty left over for non-reservations. During launch last year, my Apple store in Durham, NC got dozens more boxes (each box looked big enough to hold at least 20 phones if not more) delivered while we waited in line in addition to what they already had.

 

[ashVID]

Some stores might. That's another idea, try to get on an overflow list so you don't have to spend all day waiting. FYI, this is how I got my 3GS. Walked in around open on day 2, was about 10th in line, and left with a phone within 15 minutes or so. This is after people waited hours and hours on day 1.




ash =o0

 

[ashVID]

Probably not relevant as they should have inventory to cover all reservations AND plenty left over for non-reservations. During launch last year, my Apple store in Durham, NC got dozens more boxes (each box looked big enough to hold at least 20 phones if not more) delivered while we waited in line in addition to what they already had.

Not relevant? Maybe not but read around the forums, there seems to be much more hype and demand than before. Remember, the 3GS didn't completely sell out until after the opening few days (AT&T stopped taking pre-orders though). We still have several days before launch and they are already backordered for 3 weeks on Apple.com. Given that, I highly doubt that most Apple stores will have "plenty left over."



ash =o)

 

[absolut`]

mysticbluebmw, are you going to the Apple store @ southpoint? Thats where I'm going. Go post in my southpoint thread in the "meet-ups" section.. NO one has even posted yet.

 

[AppleFan360]

Don't count on it being easy even on day 2. I went to get a iPhone 3G on the second day and ended up spending 5 hours in line.

This launch will be much bigger than any previous iPhone launch.

 

[whateverandever]

Don't you think they would probably make a waiting list for the people in the walk up line?

If history is any indication, then definitely not.

On the iPhone 3G launch I'd waited in line for 11 hours before finally getting to the front of the line. I then had to leave for my wedding rehearsal. I tried to talk the guy into writing my name down so that I could come back early the next morning or after my rehearsal and he just towed the "first come first serve" line.

Steve's corporate team heard of it, of course. Ended up having the Apple Store give me and my wife two iPhones for free as a wedding gift when we got back.

Some of the Apple employees are definitely lame, but Apple as a company knows how to treat its customers.

Hopefully this will be smoother than the 3G launch, but I guess we'll see! I'm stuck with going to an AT&T store because I can't get the full discount from Apple (there's a note on my account that I get the full discount, but Apple can't see it). Right now I'm planning on a midnight assault on the AT&T store.

 

[AHDuke99]

They got a shipment of phonesnthe afternoon of launch day. I think this year may be different though. The 3GS didn't sell out like this one has. My store had plenty of stock the night of launch day of all but the 16gb black ones.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

According to my local Apple store they should have enough to cover all reservations.

What a joke.

If Apple was caught off guard, there is no way the "local Apple store" can predict the outcome of day one.

In addition, Apple has made a deliberate effort to supply the store with a quantity of phones for the walk in buyer.

How long either of these two supplies will last in anyones guess. That said, every indication is that there is a high likelihood that at some point, whether it's day one or two, they are going to run out of stock.

 

[doctapeppa]

My Apple store told me yesterday that they expect to have enough iphones for everyone on Thursday.

 

[MrTan]

my local Apple store is opening at 8am on Friday as well, so they're clearly expecting more queues!