"Shipments Start" the 21st? Or Arrive the 21st?

[Stangs55]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the nomenclature used for last year's 4S preorder was that they preorders started on day X and the 4S would then be "available" on day Y.

With the 5, Apple seemed to state very clearly yesterday that preorders start the 14th and that "shipments start" on the 21st...the same day they are available in stores. This seems to be contrary to how it's been handled in the past where people who preordered had their devices shipped out early and were then delivered on launch day.

Does anyone else feel that this means those of us planning to preorder will not get their devices until after the launch day?

UPDATE
Well I did some digging to try and bring some clarity to my own question...and it appears that the iPhone 4S and 5 press releases use the same nomenclature as below...so I'm assuming this means that we can expect the same experience for the 5 as we had with the 4S.

iPhone 4S will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on Friday, October 14 and customers can pre-order their iPhone 4S beginning Friday, October 7.

iPhone 5 will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, September 14.

 

[Iphoneness]

I'm also wondering about this

 

[jkun]

Arriving the 21st. It's common Apple language to use "Ships on" as the delivery date.

 

[APPLEFAN8]

arrive

 

[mattopotamus]

yeah, no way they would just start to ship it on the 21st or else no one would pre-order. Typically, the shipping companies get the phone and hold it until the release date...a.k.a the 21st it should be at your door.

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Arriving the 21st. It's common Apple language to use "Ships on" as the delivery date.

funny story....during the macbook retina keynote they stated "ships today", but really it was a full week later.

 

[Stangs55]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, I'm 95% sure we'll see it arrive at our doors on the 21st. I updated the original post with the press releases to make myself feel better...