Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/10941135/

Happy to help! =) Thanks for the trip report LOL!!

To be honest, if you aren't standing at the store when it opens - then it is pretty much 0% chance of picking one up. I assumed you were going to queue really early from work.

I think its just better to order online and wait it out. The store situation in London is still very chaotic.

Were there queues at either store?

I read your link about your experience, its ridiculous - people pushing etc, also Apple's London stores could help themselves by putting up signs saying that theres none in stock too, the iPhone 4 has been out for a while now, yet theres still not enough of them to meet demand, and the issue of the white iPhone is not helping either.

Yeah I agree on that about the chances of picking up one, thats why I just ordered it online, so I can just sit back and relax and then resume being excited (lol) when it arrives.. which is now Sept 22/23. Fun times. :)

There were no queues at either store when I went to both, but apparently according to the workers at both there were small queues in the morning.

I hope when next years iPhone gets released, they can actually meet the demand abit better. :)
 
Be warned that Vodafone neither offer Visual Voicemail, nor have any plans to do so. That's why I cancelled my contract and went back to O2.

Hmm, visual voicemail.
Am I missing out on much, considering I hardly use my voicemail/have it turned off usually. Lol ? :)

Plus, I've had a contract with Vodafone since December 09, it ends in Oct 11.
 
Sounds to me from reading the last few pages of this thread that the stores in cities are all selling out fast still, but those of living in smaller towns won't necessarily have the same issue.

I went on the Monday of my upgrade date a few weeks ago to both my local O2 store and Orange store, they both had plenty of stock. Larger cities are more densely populated so there's theoretically going to be more people wanting the iPhone 4 in one smaller space.

I'm just theorising mind because I haven't checked every town myself, but my advice to those that really don't want to wait is to catch a train to a nearby small town and try there. My town is only a £12 return from Birmingham and yet there were several stores with stock available.
 
I read your link about your experience, its ridiculous - people pushing etc, also Apple's London stores could help themselves by putting up signs saying that theres none in stock too, the iPhone 4 has been out for a while now, yet theres still not enough of them to meet demand, and the issue of the white iPhone is not helping either.

Yeah I agree on that about the chances of picking up one, thats why I just ordered it online, so I can just sit back and relax and then resume being excited (lol) when it arrives.. which is now Sept 22/23. Fun times. :)

There were no queues at either store when I went to both, but apparently according to the workers at both there were small queues in the morning.

I hope when next years iPhone gets released, they can actually meet the demand abit better. :)

Well glad you ordered it online - thats probably the most sane thing to do as the stores will drive you mad.

Thats the thing, they never bother to inform anyone. Really how difficult can it be to just put up a huge sign saying iPhones sold out or something?

I just cannot understand why the London stock situation is so miserable. Although I am wondering if people are in the know, because last Monday when I saw the queue - it was really large and they certain had plenty of stock. But I walked in at 9am so those people clearly were queuing from way before that. The previous time I saw a queue that bad was on launch day when I popped into Regent Street to ooh and argh over the phone.

I also call BS to the fact that they never know when they are going to get stock OR how much stock. How do you run a business where you have no clue when stock will arrive and how much? Everything has to be signed for and accounted for so for staff to say well we don't know when stock will arrive and how much just speaks of unprofessionalism. With logistics, delivery trucks certainly aren't going to turn up willy nilly at random times during the day. At least if they said the next delivery is on such and such a day and it will be 50 phones etc - you wont have to waste time queue up for hours outside with the possibility of NOT having a phone.

The London stores are just a complete joke. The worst part is that it wont get better in the run up to Christmas and so once it gets into 2011, it might just be better holding off for the iPhone 5 in the Summer.
 
Sounds to me from reading the last few pages of this thread that the stores in cities are all selling out fast still, but those of living in smaller towns won't necessarily have the same issue.

I went on the Monday of my upgrade date a few weeks ago to both my local O2 store and Orange store, they both had plenty of stock. Larger cities are more densely populated so there's theoretically going to be more people wanting the iPhone 4 in one smaller space.

I'm just theorising mind because I haven't checked every town myself, but my advice to those that really don't want to wait is to catch a train to a nearby small town and try there. My town is only a £12 return from Birmingham and yet there were several stores with stock available.

Theres a difference. If you want a contract or carrier locked phone - there are plenty in London. Vodafone near my house has lots of stock. My cousins - one on O2 and one on Orange managed to walk right into their respective carrier stores and pick one up several weeks ago. They've had no problem rubbing it in my face!

The supply problem is purely with SIM unlocked unsubsidised phones sold by Apple themselves. The fact that they are permanently unlocked makes them lucrative to resellers and tourists. So its these phones we can't get in any Apple store in any part of the country.

That being said, Tesco Mobile are the other big jokers. They seem to be the only contract carrier that can't seem to get their **** together. So whereas every other contract carrier has stock - Tesco doesn't even have that. Their stores seem to just get a handful of phones once a week.
 
I am currently on O2 Pay and Go and recently bought an iPhone 4 sim free from an Apple store. However at the time of purchase I received no microsim.

I went to an O2 store and asked about a microsim but they want to charge £10 to top it up first? is this really the standard procedure? I simply want to transfer my current tariff to this new microsim, so I will effectively be losing this £10 topup on the microsim they want to charge me. :confused:
 
I am currently on O2 Pay and Go and recently bought an iPhone 4 sim free from an Apple store. However at the time of purchase I received no microsim.

I went to an O2 store and asked about a microsim but they want to charge £10 to top it up first? is this really the standard procedure? I simply want to transfer my current tariff to this new microsim, so I will effectively be losing this £10 topup on the microsim they want to charge me. :confused:

You wouldn't get a MicroSIM at the time of purchase because Apple wouldn't know which carrier you use. With upto 5 UK carriers - thats just a mess they wouldn't want to deal with.

The easiest suggestion I have for you is to simply take your regular SIM and cut it into the shape of a micro SIM. There are plenty of guides here and on Youtube showing you how to do this. That way you can just pop that (your current SIM) into the iPhone 4 and use that. Should you wish to use it back in a phone with a regular SIM slot - simply get a microSIM adapter and you can use it back in a regular phone.

I think its a friggin joke that O2 are charging you £10 for a microSIM. Especially when you are on PAYG because most people on PAYG dont spend large amounts of money on topping up to begin with - the very reason they probably are on PAYG, so for O2 to be charging £10 for what is effectively top up money is ridiculous. Both Three and Tesco Mobile were happy to mail me microSIMs for free just by requesting via their websites/customer support email. Get one from one of them. Then place it on top of your current SIM, draw around it with a pencil then use a pair of scissors and cut around it - voila you have your microSIM and can tell O2 to shove it!
 
This is weird...I ordered my 2 iPhones (16 and 32GB) via Borderlinx on 9th August, Shipping date being 30th August and Delivery date 1st September...Still the status is "Prepared for Shipment", and this on the US Store! On the UK Store, it's Not yet shipped. Why?

-J
 
Success!!! :D
Went into Bluewater this morning and picked up a 32gb :D
Interestingly, they seemed to suspect I was a box breaker, perhaps because of the manner in which I just walked up to one of the guys and asked to buy a 32gb iPhone 4 outright. Before he went to check the stock he asked if I was buying it with the intention of selling it overseas, and then went on to explain that they've had a lot of those types of customers lately and prefer to sell the little stock they do have to customers like myself who genuinely want the phone for their own personal use.

Already had my first FaceTime call and I love the iPhone 4 :D
 
Glad to hear that - I ordered mine on the evening of the 12th so hope this bodes well....

...and I just got the email saying expected delivery tomorrow :D
...and (one day later) it's here, no death grip issue, no proximity sensor issue, just everything I liked about the 3g only better :D
 
Bought the new iPhone 4 yesterday to replace my 3G. very impressed with it. Seems to me like the difference that the Xbox had to an Xbox 360 in terms of the screen quality and sheer speed. So i'm really impressed and now i can use push notifications and stuff like that with the battery not going flat on me instantly. Also the design of it is lovely, much nicer than the 3G... Anyway i bought it on Tesco Mobile and got the 12 month 750 minutes unlimited texts 1gb data option. One question i had with this now is this free bunker i hear about, the signal thing isn't very obvious, but from what i can tell it still has an issue on my phone so wouldn't mind the bunker thingy even though i don't even hold the phone really that tight to lose the signal!

Also secondly, what tips do you guys have to take advantage of the iphone 4. What are all its new features and stuff like that from 3GS and 4? Any small things that i should be made aware of? Also does the phone scratch easily? And how strong is to withhold a fall without screen cracking or something?

Think that's all to ask but really impressed so far with it and i'm glad i chose the 32Gb option seeing as i had the 16Gb before.
 
Bought the new iPhone 4 yesterday to replace my 3G. very impressed with it. Seems to me like the difference that the Xbox had to an Xbox 360 in terms of the screen quality and sheer speed. So i'm really impressed and now i can use push notifications and stuff like that with the battery not going flat on me instantly. Also the design of it is lovely, much nicer than the 3G... Anyway i bought it on Tesco Mobile and got the 12 month 750 minutes unlimited texts 1gb data option. One question i had with this now is this free bunker i hear about, the signal thing isn't very obvious, but from what i can tell it still has an issue on my phone so wouldn't mind the bunker thingy even though i don't even hold the phone really that tight to lose the signal!

Also secondly, what tips do you guys have to take advantage of the iphone 4. What are all its new features and stuff like that from 3GS and 4? Any small things that i should be made aware of? Also does the phone scratch easily? And how strong is to withhold a fall without screen cracking or something?

Download this App from iTunes AppStore and follow your nose:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/iphone-4-case-program/id383941000?mt=8
 
Anyway........
I have had both a bumper and a free speck tartan case and guess what. I don't use any of them.
I just prefer my iPhone naked. Always have.
But seen as your getting one for free you may as well go ahead and pick one.
 
Have O2 increased the handset price on all their Pay Monthly tariffs recently?

I'm sure they used to be about £15- £20 cheaper.

e.g. 18 month £30 contract, handset used to be £209, now it is £229??
Or am I missing something?!

Edit - discrepancy between here and the actual online shop prices. I wonder why they increased the price. http://shop.o2.co.uk/new-iphone/tariffs.html
 
Afternoon all.

First time post but long time lurker around these parts :)

Ordered my iPhone 4 around 16th August shipping Est. 9th Sept but hoping it arrives sooner rather than later! I have the worst patience level when waiting for new gadgets! :D

Everyone seems to be receiving theres around 4-7 days earlier though by the looks of things?
 
Have O2 increased the handset price on all their Pay Monthly tariffs recently?

I'm sure they used to be about £15- £20 cheaper.

e.g. 18 month £30 contract, handset used to be £209, now it is £229??
Or am I missing something?!

Edit - discrepancy between here and the actual online shop prices. I wonder why they increased the price. http://shop.o2.co.uk/new-iphone/tariffs.html

LMAO.. O2 doing a good job of keeping customers I see. The PAYG handset is now £595 - just £5 cheaper than Apple stores yet only offers free WiFi - not even a monthly data amount!! I'd rather lose the WiFi (which isnt a big deal if you have a data plan anyways) and pay the extra £5 to Apple retail and have an unlocked phone. At least Tesco offer their 32Gb for £570 and include both WiFi and 1GB of data a month. Now if we could only get a Tesco iPhone 4!!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.