How was your Pre-Order Experience?

The way this works is that your iPhone is staged, just as everyone else's is, so that all of them ship out on launch day. Apple/Your carrier have contracts with UPS/FedEx that are very specific. No iPhone is to ship early (or late for that matter). So, you are going to get conflicting reports.

My iPhone 5 sat on the Louisville, Kentucky UPS ramp for two days after I got my "Shipped" notice. It was held so that it would be delivered no earlier than Sept. 21st, 2012. My iPhone 5 had been pre-staged, meaning Apple shipped it over to a staging facility prior to launch day. While my iPhone sat, a lot of other people were reporting their iPhones to be in flight from China. But those people's iPhones and mine were all delivered on launch day.

However, once I got a device serial I was able to use a trick to get the tracking number. Once I had that I was able to find my UPS flight number. I had the pleasure of tracking my iPhone 5 via Flightaware from Lousiville to Phoenix.

You'll get your iPhone on time. No worries!

 

ATT CSRs were clueless temporary employees. A complete and total waste of time the last two new iPhones. I ended up canceling and just going to the store. Got it on release day anyway.

 

Didn't pre-order the 5 because of my pre-order experience with the 4S, but I pre-ordered the 4S like a week before it was to be released, and it was like a month wait, so I cancelled the pre-order and went to the Apple Store. Not a bad experience, but that pre-order expected shipping time was insane!

 

I don't think I'll preorder again. I preordered at 5:30AM on the first day for the 5, and I didn't get it until almost two weeks after launch. All the while I could have walked into the Apple Store on launch day and bought one (I wanted the 64GB one so there seemed to be more available). Of course it was too late to cancel the preorder since it was already "preparing for shipment."