Sounds mostly like direct sales. At least, Apple didn't do 'pre-order' in countries like the Netherlands, Belgium etc. etc. Phones just went on sale on the mentioned date. Pretty sure it will be the same this time.
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Awesome to finally have a confirmation of the date the new iPhones are going on sale. Hope that the Dutch website Typhone will offer the ability to order one this Friday (or even sooner). Can't wait to have mine!
Fortunately, I'm getting an iPad mini 4 this week as well. So it's not like I've got nothing to do until I'll get my iPhone 6s.
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By the way, here's the full list of countries where iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be available at October 9th (might read easier than a bunch of text).