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This ain't your father's launch event. We're in uncharted waters here with how insane it's going to be. I think anybody who goes to the Apple store thinking it will be similar to the 3GS launch is going to have a rude awakening.

I can just see the poor soul walking into the store after work to find out that the phones were all gone by noon.

phpmaven, I agree with you. I think we are going to be reading about some people who had reservations but did not get a phone on the 24th. It will vary from store to store.

The one thing that will help offset it is this: many people were unable to get a pre-order at first and they made a reservation. But then they got a pre-order. So the stores may have some no-shows if these are not cancelled.
 
Wow!!! What a whirlwind of a thread.

This is what I was told by several different employees at several different stores for the ipad and this launch.

1st: that reserving is used for apple to know how many to ship to the store. if they have 200 reservations they know to send the 200+ whatever the walk in estimate may be. Makes sense, like someone else said, why would they just guess when they have actual data to go on. not only that if the reservations had nothing to do with it what is the point of it.

I expect this info to be true because they stopped taking reservations on day one which means that the collective number was reaching supply limits.

2nd: the employees have also stated that a reservation means that there will be a phone there for you "guaranteed" this is also supported by the verbiage in the confirmation email. "thank you, your iPhone will be there for you on the 24th you have until close to pick it up" again if this was not the case why not say that they should arrive early to guarantee a iphone?

I think, like anything else in life, that some people in here think they know everything. not because they actually know, but because they formulated convoluted reasoning in their head and they spew that to others as truth.


let me say that I was able to get a pre-order in that will be shipped to my house on the 24th, so I really don't care. i'm not trying to reassure myself. these are just the facts as I was told them.
 
Wow!!! What a whirlwind of a thread.

This is what I was told by several different employees at several different stores for the ipad and this launch.

1st: that reserving is used for apple to know how many to ship to the store. if they have 200 reservations they know to send the 200+ whatever the walk in estimate may be. Makes sense, like someone else said, why would they just guess when they have actual data to go on. not only that if the reservations had nothing to do with it what is the point of it.

I expect this info to be true because they stopped taking reservations on day one which means that the collective number was reaching supply limits.

2nd: the employees have also stated that a reservation means that there will be a phone there for you "guaranteed" this is also supported by the verbiage in the confirmation email. "thank you, your iPhone will be there for you on the 24th you have until close to pick it up" again if this was not the case why not say that they should arrive early to guarantee a iphone?

I think, like anything else in life, that some people in here think they know everything. not because they actually know, but because they formulated convoluted reasoning in their head and they spew that to others as truth.


let me say that I was able to get a pre-order in that will be shipped to my house on the 24th, so I really don't care. i'm not trying to reassure myself. these are just the facts as I was told them.

I just want to say... this guy is right.
 
I just want to say... this guy is right.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but (imo) this guy is wrong. A reservation is not a guarantee, just ask this to any apple sales rep, and see what they say. What "will be held until close of business" is the "reservation" not the iphone i.e. if they are in stock, then you get one because you reserved one, if not in stock, then you don't. Let's say 200 reservations were made to that store, but the store only gets 175 in stock- you get the picture. That being said, reservations take priority over walk-ins. Ahh, the 24th is going to be such a lovely day for apple stores...
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, but (imo) this guy is wrong. A reservation is not a guarantee, just ask this to any apple sales rep, and see what they say. What "will be held until close of business" is the "reservation" not the iphone i.e. if they are in stock, then you get one because you reserved one, if not in stock, then you don't. Let's say 200 reservations were made to that store, but the store only gets 175 in stock- you get the picture. That being said, reservations take priority over walk-ins. Ahh, the 24th is going to be such a lovely day for apple stores...

IMO, you're wrong. I guess we'll see on Thursday...
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, but (imo) this guy is wrong. A reservation is not a guarantee, just ask this to any apple sales rep, and see what they say. What "will be held until close of business" is the "reservation" not the iphone i.e. if they are in stock, then you get one because you reserved one, if not in stock, then you don't. Let's say 200 reservations were made to that store, but the store only gets 175 in stock- you get the picture. That being said, reservations take priority over walk-ins. Ahh, the 24th is going to be such a lovely day for apple stores...

Ok, you know what, it's not a gaurentee, anything can happen. They could not get the full shipment, found they counted wrong, whatnot.

But, what they are saying is that they plan that everyone who reserved actually gets a phone. It's not just a way of getting first in line (and then after the store opens you're on your own).

They plan on having a set amount aside that will only be sold to those with reserve. No, they don't want to gaurentee that because well, crap happens sometimes. Broken phones come in, people get wrongfully sold a reserve phone when they should not have gotten one, mixups happen in shipping. Which is why I told the Apple guy today who said that I could come late in the day if I wanted to avoid large lines that I wasn't taking that chance.

I'm sure they mean to hold those phones and not sell them unless you have a reserve. The theories I have heard that they will just sell them to anyone anyways, or that reserve only means you get first in line before the store opens, or that reserve doesn't mean a thing at all are wrong.

But yes, people are right that it doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a phone. But you are much more likely (specially if you don't wait til the end of the day where there is more chance stuff will have depleted the reserved phones more than it should) to get one if you have one reserved. Basically you will have one barring some mishap happening or you not showing up on the 24th. And if they only get 175 when they have 200 reservations, I will place my bets that no one who has not reserved a phone will get a phone from that store.
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, but (imo) this guy is wrong. A reservation is not a guarantee, just ask this to any apple sales rep, and see what they say. What "will be held until close of business" is the "reservation" not the iphone i.e. if they are in stock, then you get one because you reserved one, if not in stock, then you don't. Let's say 200 reservations were made to that store, but the store only gets 175 in stock- you get the picture. That being said, reservations take priority over walk-ins. Ahh, the 24th is going to be such a lovely day for apple stores...

I think you're wrong, but I love your username. Love watching Cassano and Pazzini.
 
Sorry to burst your bubble...

No you're not, you actually like it. :(

Of course its not a guarantee, but its as good as you can get depending on how many they ship to each store, but they're at least as good as the pre-orders that were cancelled.
 
3 apple stores in town. All mangers said if you have a reservation, you HAVE a phone
 
Ok, now you have me worried. I live in Hawaii. I'm vacationing in CA. On the 15th, I placed my preorder for that store I would be closest to on the 24th. I got my "preorder" and confirmation that I can pick it up anytime on the 24th.

I called that store b4 the 15th and they said as long as I pre order it, I'll get one put aside for myself.

Since then and now, on my vacation, I've been to two other Apple stores. One says, yes, I'll get it since I have it on hold.
Another said, I'll get one as long as supply lasts. So I should go early... In case they don't get enough.

So although I should be the 1st (probably not, although I placed it the moment the site came up) on the list for that store, some of you people are telling me that it's still a first come first serve? That sounds wrong. On the email I got said I will have till the end of that day to pick it up.
Not saying 'll be there at 9pm, but I won't be in that town till about 4pm.

So if Apple has two lines one for preorders and one for walk-ins, I would be ticked if mine was given to a walk in.
 
Unfortunately talking to a person does not assure one anything. Apple Stores are all owned by Apple, and all operate under the same policies & procedures. The only lattitude store managers have is where they have people line up, and the number of lines according to local fire codes. A reservation means next to nothing if one reads the fine print on this years disclaimer. The only people with reservations, that have a good chance of actually walking away from the Apple Store with a phone, are those who arrive very early, and wait in line. As we all know, this year was the worst due to extremely high unmanageable demand. So the best one can do is arrive very early, & hope their are enough phones. The new disclaimer protects Apple, once they sell out, reservations are worthless.
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, but (imo) this guy is wrong. A reservation is not a guarantee, just ask this to any apple sales rep, and see what they say. What "will be held until close of business" is the "reservation" not the iphone i.e. if they are in stock, then you get one because you reserved one, if not in stock, then you don't. Let's say 200 reservations were made to that store, but the store only gets 175 in stock- you get the picture. That being said, reservations take priority over walk-ins. Ahh, the 24th is going to be such a lovely day for apple stores...

This is one of the dumbest comments I've read in a while. Nothing is guaranteed, a plane could crash and a whole lotta people could not be getting phones, but a reservation is good for a reserved phone. Sheesh.

No different than the shipping and ordering fundamentals applied to the iPad launch. And you will be able to show up at the end of the day if you've reserved one. The phone will be there. Apple has no reason to sell a reserved phone to a walk-in customer, until the following day.
 
Apple has no reason to sell a reserved phone to a walk-in customer, until the following day.

Sure they do, ever heard the saying "A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush"?

What about the people that reserved one and ordered one for delivery? Or if you decided in the last few days that you can't afford an iPhone? The reservations don't guarantee anything. It helps to ensure that you "should" get a phone on launch day. Apple just wants to sell all of the phones they have, there's no real allegiance to the dedicated pre ordering customers. Just a mild amount of courtesy.
 
Sure they do, ever heard the saying "A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush"?

What about the people that reserved one and ordered one for delivery? Or if you decided in the last few days that you can't afford an iPhone? The reservations don't guarantee anything. It helps to ensure that you "should" get a phone on launch day. Apple just wants to sell all of the phones they have, there's no real allegiance to the dedicated pre ordering customers. Just a mild amount of courtesy.

What, because on Friday they wouldn't manage to sell any reserved phones that weren't picked up?

Really, a bird in the hand...is worth a bird in the hand tomorrow.
 
Sure they do, ever heard the saying "A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush"?

Hope you don't run any retail store.

1. It would be very bad for business to sell something you told some one you hold. It's very short sighted and does not at all look to future sales and repeat business. Sure, yuo get that one sale. Then you lose the other person's business as well as anyone he convinces not to go back to you.

2. And it's not like you lost that sale anyways. If the device is so popular you don't have enough, you will sell it the next day. So you really aren't losing anything by taking a risk the person who reserved the phone does not show up.
 
a reservation is good for a reserved phone.

IF they have enough in stock to cover all the reservations, then yes. But the way I read it is- first come, first served with reservations taking priority over walk-ins, until they run out. I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen, but this is scenario which can happen, thus a reservation is not a guarantee.
 
IF they have enough in stock to cover all the reservations, then yes. But the way I read it is- first come, first served with reservations taking priority over walk-ins, until they run out. I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen, but this is scenario which can happen, thus a reservation is not a guarantee.

Precisely!
 
IF they have enough in stock to cover all the reservations, then yes. But the way I read it is- first come, first served with reservations taking priority over walk-ins, until they run out. I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen, but this is scenario which can happen, thus a reservation is not a guarantee.

Yup. That's why it says "Pre-authorization does not guarantee iPhone availability."

There will be some people who will get lucky and be able to waltz into their store after work and pick up their reserved phone. But considering the fiasco on the 15th (and after), I would say Apple is also going to be relying on that "no guarantee" clause quoted above.
 
i spoke to my friend about this (who currently works @ apple) and she said that having a reservation is as close to a guarantee that you will get a phone other than pre-ordering. She also said that the fine print at the bottom of the email about "pre-authorization" is not the same thing as a reservation. Basically, pre-authorization != reservation.
 
Pre-Authorization simply reflects the current standing of your ATT Account. Say for instance, your bill was paid-in-full when you made the reservation, and between the time of the reservation and the 24th, your bill was past due because it was due...say, the 23rd. When you prance your pretty butt into the Apple Store to get your reserved iPhone, they CAN deny you an iPhone because your account is not in good standing which means you are NOT eligible for an upgrade.

Pre-authorization has no real impact on your reservation unless your account becomes ineligble for an upgrade for whatever reason.
 
You are all going nuts for no reason if u have a reserved phone at an apple store, show up on the 24th, get ur phone and be happy. The reservations people made will tell apple how many to ship.. That many phones will be there for them plus walk in supply.. They don't just say hey so well send 14 here and 157 at that store there.. What good is the reservation if not there to count exactly HOW many they need hence why they stopped taking reservations after the amount made for it was reached. Everyone needs to relax. Troll'd.
 
You are all going nuts for no reason if u have a reserved phone at an apple store, show up on the 24th, get ur phone and be happy. The reservations people made will tell apple how many to ship.. That many phones will be there for them plus walk in supply.. They don't just say hey so well send 14 here and 157 at that store there.. What good is the reservation if not there to count exactly HOW many they need hence why they stopped taking reservations after the amount made for it was reached. Everyone needs to relax. Troll'd.

Exactly. At Best Buy, the preorders we took reflect how many iPhones we will be receiving at launch with the obvious exception of the white version. I don't see how or why Apple would deviate from that. If you have confirmation of your reservation, don't fret, unless a shipment to that store blows up or is hijacked or something.
 
When I talked to the local store they said that the line would move faster for the reserves than the first-come-first-serve folks, but my concern lies w/ the accessories. I'm hoping a 40 person reserve line doesn't screwed out of a shot at a bumper or dock or w/e because they're taking a good portion of first come folks at the same time. I hope they ask in line what accessories people are looking to purchase, so that maybe we have a better shot at getting what we want.
 
Hey buddy there are preorders, which are purchases of the phone via apple's online store that are shipped and then there are reservations which only reserve the phone for you to pick up at an actual store. 2 different things. there will most certainly be people that have reserve phones waiting in line.

Next time, try to READ a post before responding to it. It's been widely publicized since day 1 that orders from AT&T for in-store pick up would not be available until the 25th, and that ONLY walk-ins would be available at AT&T stores on the 24th.
 
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