'Incredible' Response to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as Apple Sets Overnight Pre-Order Sales Record

[tylersdad]

3am PST? I feel really bad for the people that stayed up to try and order through apple.

i'm glad I pre-ordered through verizon (what?!! verizon > apple?) that opened their pre-order promptly 10 minute early(!!).

I tried doing the Verizon pre-order at 11:55pm PST. Was able to get through to almost the end when I realized they didn't have "Edge" as a payment option. So I started over. I spent the next 1.5 hours trying to complete my order. Was getting an error every time I clicked the Preorder button. Apparently lots of others had the same problem. Verizon finally fixed it around 5am PST. Logged in at 6am PST and was able to buy a 16 GB 6 and a 64 GB 6. My mom was able to preorder hers about an hour ago and had no problem getting a 64 GB 6. Seems the carriers had a lot of stock.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

I noticed the 6 has a better contrast ratio than the 6+, what do people make of that?

 

[ZipZap]

I don't understand all these claims that Apple.Com was down. It came up a few min late but I put my order in there at 3:10 AM.

Yes, it was slow and yes I had to use the back button and refresh a lot but I got it to go.

Just looked online and my order is there.

The blame here rests squarely for STILL not being able to handle their order load. Also, on ATT for their crappy systems that can NEVER handle load.

 

[got2go]

Yes... It was down because there were so many people trying to order at the same time. Which equates to lots of sales when people DID get through. I was expecting to see this when I saw how much traffic there was last night.

Wrong. It wasn't slow. It wasn't glitching. It wasn't giving error messages.

It was just not up. Nobody was getting in. The Apple store app was working but not the website.

 

[ZipZap]

I'm hoping these estimates are worst case scenarios.

I was given an est. of 10/13-10/22 for my premier account

This has not been the case in the past. Especially with ATT

----------

Ordered myself a 6+

To those who are saying that it's too big for a phone: I agree completely. I, however, don't really consider it a phone - more of a mini iPad mini with phone features that I will use once a month (if that).

I had a 5s and an iPad air - I felt like it was stupid to have two devices that were so close to each other in functionality (at least, for me).

The idea for me is to have a portable device that can handle reading, email, messaging, games, etc. I have no need or intention to keep it in my front pocket and whip it out 100x per day but that's just me and my very specific uses/habits.

Ive had a case for both models for a week and did not really struggle with carrying either.

 

[fishmd]

They make more money this way because they don't subsidize any of the iPhone. I did the math and it was going to be $900 more than if I waited for the end of my contract before upgrading. Even at the higher cost, however, I was ready to jump to Next while sitting in front of the computer at 2am -- I hadn't gone to bed because I was so excited. But I threw in the towel when the Apple store still wasn't up at 3. I had to go to bed because I have to get up for work by 6.

This morning, I saw that if I ordered the iPhone Plus, I wouldn't get it until around October 21, which his when my contract expires and I can pick up the 64GB Plus for $399, so I'm just going to wait it out.

Needless to say, I'm tired and frustrated today.

900$ more for Next? You must not be on one of the Mobile Share Plans then and trying to add next to a traditional/grandfathered plan I am guessing? From my calculations, if you use Next and one of the Mobile Share plans, it is cheaper for sure, but of course you must give up "unlimited data" if you have that. To, be honest, I may be looking to give up my unlimited data anyways. I am sick of getting throttled speeds almost every month as soon as I get around that 5 GB cap they enforce.

 

[ZipZap]

The biggest mistake I see each phone cycle is ordering from the carrier. Its not necessary.

 

[rwilliams]

I don't understand all these claims that Apple.Com was down. It came up a few min late but I put my order in there at 3:10 AM.

It may not have been down as in "completely inaccessible by anyone", but a LOT of people could not get in via apple.com. I tried to load it repeatedly for over an hour and never got the store to load. I had to order it through the Apple Store app.

 

[turtlebud]

Except if you had a corporate discount with Verizon, then their system errored out until nearly 4am.

hmmm. I think I have a corp discount, but only on my plan, didn't think it would apply to hardware. I did try to go back in after i placed my original order and i kept getting some error (authenticating ECD or something like that). wonder if that was related to the corporate discount. well, no matter - seems like the 6 that I ordered is well in stock even this morning (64gb iphone 6).

 

[flux73]

Samsung's attack ads must have been really effective. Imagine how many MORE iPhones could have been sold if they hadn't done them.

 

[samcraig]

Same comment year after year though. Not surprised to see it again.

 

[leenak]

hmmm. I think I have a corp discount, but only on my plan, didn't think it would apply to hardware. I did try to go back in after i placed my original order and i kept getting some error (authenticating ECD or something like that). wonder if that was related to the corporate discount. well, no matter - seems like the 6 that I ordered is well in stock even this morning (64gb iphone 6).

Yeah the EPCD error was related to a problem in the corporate discount system. I ended up calling but they said they couldn't order a phone for me because of the error. So I ended up trying a few times after that call and was able to get my order.

 

[HiRez]

Last night I ordered a 64GB iPhone 6 through AT&T due to the Apple store problems. This morning I cancelled my AT&T order and placed an order through the Apple Store for in-store pickup. I received an email confirmation from Apple stating "We’ll email you as your items become available for pickup" so I think everything went through on Apple's end. I received confirmation that my order through AT&T had been cancelled, but now when I log into the AT&T website it is still showing there is an order that was placed today (but with a different order number than I had been provided by AT&T when I placed my order). Does anyone know if AT&T's website would reflect that I placed an order through Apple somehow?

Most likely yes, because my Verizon account does. I ordered the iPhone through the Apple Store app, then I went to Verizon Wireless website because I wanted to change my plan, but it said (paraphrasing) "You have a pending phone order and can change your plan once the new phone is activated". So the carriers do get notified.

 

[grmatt]

Well, the people who still want a smaller one don't really have an option. I wish they would have kept a smaller edition along with introducing the bigger ones. If the Plus kills a 4.0" option in head-to-head sales, then fine. I was happy with 3.5".

They do. It's called the 5S, which is still a very solid option. Processing power and such is not much less than the 6.

 

[dBeats]

I can't imagine that 6+ is reasonable held up to your ear. I just keep thinking about that giant foam cellphone guy from candid camera a few years ago. "Helllooooooo??"

Since I'm on an "S" update cycle, I'll have a year to think about it. If I were forced right now, I'd definitely not get a 6+. Not even Apple can convince me that a phablet is a good idea. Just a bunch of people with no taste and Apple decided to pander to them, for good economic reason.

 

[kironin]

I'm really surprised how much pent up demand there was for the Plus model. I thought most people would find it too cumbersome to use on a daily basis.

Watching just how many people have been lugging around oversized phablet's, it's not really that surprising. People are cuckoo.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

But the 5s doesn't have NFC for apple pay.

The Apple Watch might be able to compensate for that, as it's supposed to work for in-store purchases.

 

[Trapezoid]

Samsung's attack ads must have been really effective. Imagine how many MORE iPhones could have been sold if they hadn't done them.

Yeah that ad definitely hit apple hard lol. It's unfortunate that Samsung doesn't realize they're just advertising for apple.

Kinda like when they made the commercial about the bigger iPhone coming out....Before apple announced it. Way to let people know what's coming and to hold off on purchasing, Sammy!

 

[ice44]

I live in Los Angeles and I ordered my 6+ at 903 pm LA Time....

Here is how I did it

Called a friend who lived in Ohio at 1150 pm HIS time and did a Remote Connection via Log Me In ..... I stayed connected to his PC until midnight and then logged into ATT website.....

ATT website sees his local time and ISP....I login with my account info and buy the phone...... Done in 3-5 mins !

 

[cbird007]

Worked out in the end

Was bummed that the site had issues. Decided to check the Apple Store App and it worked, well sort of. It had issues checking my upgrade status with AT&T. When it timed out, Apple said it had the iPhone 6+ for me and gave me a reservation number. Got an email this morning that they were ready for me to complete my order. Just received an email confirmation that my phone will deliver by 9/19.

 

[gavroche]

Bah, you can have a pretty certain idea of what you want by holding similarly sized Android phones or printing out the cutouts with the right dimensions. I'm going with the +.

I was skeptical of the +.... until I printed the cutouts and taped em to cardboard. The 6 just didn't seem all that much bigger than the 5s.... and the 6+ wasn't as overly large as I worried. So I too am going to go with the +

 

[bradkrischel]

Most likely yes, because my Verizon account does. I ordered the iPhone through the Apple Store app, then I went to Verizon Wireless website because I wanted to change my plan, but it said (paraphrasing) "You have a pending phone order and can change your plan once the new phone is activated". So the carriers do get notified.

Thanks for the info!

 

[bpeeps]

I live in Los Angeles and I ordered my 6+ at 903 pm LA Time....

Here is how I did it

Called a friend who lived in Ohio at 1150 pm HIS time and did a Remote Connection via Log Me In ..... I stayed connected to his PC until midnight and then logged into ATT website.....

ATT website sees his local time and ISP....I login with my account info and buy the phone...... Done in 3-5 mins !

Like a boss, if that's actually true.

 

[KPOM]

iPhone 6 64GB T-Mobile Silver

In all the frenzy of trying to get on, I wound up placing duplicate orders. Good thing that Apple makes it easy to cancel. I wound up buying a T-Mobile version, but not before:
- Ordering from Verizon with a basic plan since their website actually worked (canceled over the phone today - took 10 minutes on hold and 2 minutes once I got through).
- Ordering through AT&T Next on my existing iPhone through the app (figuring worst case I could pay off my Next balance early if I wanted to unlock it).
- Finally seeing the website go up and ordering the T-Mobile version I wanted...in the wrong color (that's what being up from 2:00-4:45 will do).
- Placing a new order in the right color.

Good thing I had multiple credit cards with me (I'm traveling). Once I got the confirmation that my "correct" order would deliver 9/19, a few quick clicks on Apple's web site, and my duplicate orders were safely cancelled and available for someone else to pre-order.

In any case, it looks like there will be plenty of iPhone 6s in stock at the stores. The pre-sales are just starting to sell out now (not the Plus, which sold out a long time ago, but the basic 6), so if it winds up being locked for whatever reason, I'll just exchange it in the store.

 

[TWSS37]

There is no iPhone 6 plus