Let's make a deal...& I got 2 pins!
I was back and forth between going to Apple and RS. But the RS salesperson last night, persuaded me to give him a try, and he would throw in a $50 gift card on top of my crappy trade-ins (good salesman), because I was going for 2 iphone4s. If it didn't work, then go to Apple.
So I decided this morning to try my luck with him. I was the only person in the store asking for the new iphone at 1pm, in the middle of urban cambridge (boston), believe it or not. Patience was key here. He started my order right at 1pm, but got declined like 20 times. I went back to my work an hour later. And he calls me around 2:45pm to say that he has two pins for 32GB iphone4s for me! As far as he knows, they will be available on launch day. With all the uncertainties that have been said on this, I won't hold my breath for launch day, but I do appreciate the discounts and trade-ins. So, I say good deal in any case.
He told me he got calls from DM's about there being still plenty of inventory an hour after the start, but because everyone was accessing the central server at once, it was jamming up. It took 2hrs and 45 mins to get my order processed.
I'm pretty satisfied (or lucky) so far, even though the process is so f'd up. I don't think RS intentionally does it this way, but hey it is what it is, for this once in a few years.