Made me realise the App Store app needs touchid on the orders page instead of having to fill in my appleid every time...
Does the serial number get allocated at PFD?
Absolutely this. Considering I've been checking it so often, it's practically laughable that Apple don't allow you to sign in with TouchID!
Someone should build an app like the 'Parcel' app for tracking parcels but which allows you to log in once and keep track of your Apple order statuses. Including features such as a push notification when the status changes even a tiny bit. Although I don't imagine Apple would allow a third party app that kind of access to their services.