White iPhone - Upgrade - When?

I think your best bet is to pester O2 till they allow you to buy at an Apple store, start new contract and cancel old as some people seem to have managed to do.

 

At least you found some info... i was told by an O2 member of staff that O2 would never get the White iPhone... that it was apple exclusive!

BS!

I really want white as well, and agree that after the upgrade debacle we should get priority over new customers... even though they can get white direct from apple retail!

 

The white iPhone hasn't actually been released yet. Or at least, so I've been told by a couple of O2 reps.

I was also assured by another that I would be able to upgrade before the Oct 11 cut-off for existing iPhone customers, which implies that they will have the white iPhone by then.

I will, however, go on record as saying this has been a very poor show by O2. They're not telling us anything, nor are they telling their customer service reps anything, so we have no idea at all about the white iPhone.

I am getting increasingly pissed off with both Apple and O2 over this, since I can't figure out which one is to blame.

 

Try this as a suggestion (although I'm no O2 expert so you may wish to check if it's possible with them first.

Phone A = Existing Phone
Phone B = New iPhone 3G

1) Go to local Apple Store
2) Connect new iPhone 3G with new number
3) Call O2 and ensure that you now have both Phone A and Phone B on same account (ie 2 phones, 1 bill for both)
4) Arrange to terminate Phone A
5) Arrange to swap number of Phone A to SIM of Phone B

This should, with a bit of fiddling, get you a new iPhone 3G with your exisiting number. Referred to in the industry as a "backdoor upgrade"

Let us know how you get on.

 

In addition to the above, and more directly relevant to your question. Here is an email I had from O2 directly:




Thank you for emailing us about the new 3G iPhone.

I understand your concern that you want to purchase the new 3G iPhone. Please note that you won't be able to unlock the new 3G iPhone to use it with other network provider SIM card even if you pay for your full contract period.

As you've probably seen, there's been a huge demand and we've now sold out. We're working closely with Apple to get additional iPhone 3Gs. These will be coming in on a weekly basis. We've limited availability of iPhone 3G 8GB in O2 retail stores as at opening time Wednesday 16 July 2008. You can visit one of our O2 stores mentioned in the list of O2 store having the iPhone 3G 8GB to take out an iPhone contract.

You can visit the link below that will show list of O2 stores that have the iPhone 3G stock as at opening time Wednesday 16 July 2008:

http://shop.o2.co.uk/info/?cm_re=HeroBanner-_-Shop-_-iphone3GLaunch#shopTable

This list will be updated daily. The amount of iPhone 3G 8GB stock these stores have is still very limited and will therefore sell out quickly. Please note that currently there is no stock of iPhone 3G 16GB version.

We currently don't have a date when the new iPhone will be available in White. We'll keep you posted on specific details by regularly updating our iPhone page: o2.co.uk/iphone.

Should you need any information on our products and services, please visit our online Help Centre at:

http://www.o2.co.uk/help

When you email us please provide: your date of birth, postcode and mobile number as it helps us answer your query faster.

Kind regards,

Anuj Bakshi
O2 Customer Service.

 

You have to blame Apple in the UK for not thinking this through. A lot of the first iPhone buyers were Mac fans, logical extension of a Mac. They know iBook and MacBook fans like white, that's why we have to have the white 3G iPhone.

So what do we have - a real catch 22. You can get white iPhones in an Apple store but you can't upgrade there. You can upgrade in an O2 or Car Phone Warehouse shop but you only get black.

You could think that this is mental cruelty! It's just so stupid. Worst still Apple and O2 won't comment. How dumb is that.

I'm not getting a black 3G, that's that!!!

 

YOu know what's strange? I'm buying my girlfriend an iPhone for her birthday, and she is hoping for the white 16GB. I've been into two carphone warehouse stores, and two O2 stores and both have had the white 16GB in stock (reason I keep checking is because of threads like this one, and because I live in two different locations, so was checking availability in both).
At both stores, I asked if they had the 16GB white model. At both stores, they produced it in front of my, shrink wrapped in the box and tried to sell it to me.

 

Woo! Anyone else back this up? (No offence spooky2k!)

I was planning a palaver and a half to try and get a white 3g from an Apple store and then persuade O2 to upgrade my current account, but if O2 and CW are starting to get white 3gs, that would make life much easier.

Please post if anyone else has seen white 3Gs in O2 or Carphone Warehouse.

I'll be phoning tomorrow anyway.

 

odd, in the states it has been the opposite, the black 16GB is the one that is hard to find.

 

This is what I have been told by O2:

However, please note that I was told this by O2 customer services who are for the most part a bunch of idiots with no idea what the hell's going on. Oh, and I was only told that in one out of about five of the emails I have exchanged with them.

 

I'd honestly recommend walking in and checking. Maybe it's being officially launched by them as a 'new colour' sometime in the future or something, since none of their promotional materials show or mention the white iPhone.

Still though, they must be getting them in, else I wouldn't have seen them in those stores.

Best of luck!

 

which O2/CPW stores have white iPhone's?

Dear Spooky2K,

Could you please let us know which O2/Carphone stores exactly you went to which had white iPhone's? Please share this information which would make us all sooo happy !!!


Mike
starmike@gmail.com
London

 

Me to !.... I have spoken to my 2 local Carphone Warehouse stores and two o2 stores and all four confirmed NO white iphones, and no date as to when these will arrive.

However, I have (over the last two days) spoken to two o2 reps via customer service and have been told by them, "the white model is now being filtered through to the stores". Believe that or not.

Please let me know which stores you visited... Many thanks.

- Neil

nholmes.mac@me.com

 

Once again ! Apple on form !

Ha ha ha.... Once again the thread on Apples own website about this subject has been removed !

Anyone else think that with each day we are getting closer and closer to the truth behind the obvious error Apple and o2 have made over white model ?

Just seems funny that when I have a rant about my experiences and the lack of information Apple and o2 have supplied me with.... 'POP' my posts disappear !

Good old Apple, just making it hard for your real customers to get hold of information...

 

Sure, not a problem. Two of the stores (one o2 and a carphone warehouse) were in Cardiff, and the other two were in London.

 

They already let you, its possible to start a new contract and your old one gets cancelled. Ring O2 customer services and ask, it can be done.

 

They've stopped it now. The 'Executive Relations Team' are not budging either.

 

Wow alot has changed over the weeks.

 

And why is that? You already have an iPhone; so if anything, I would say less priority than somebody who does not.

 

The moody cow I spoke to over the phone at my nearest O2 store (on the Strand) said of the white 3G iPhone, "We don't do those."

 

I went into the Apple store in the Bullring today, I had a plan and wanted to see it it would work;

Get my free upgrade from O2 (black 16gig)
Take it (un-opened) into the Apple store
Swap it for a white one!

I spoke to one of the Geniuses, really nice guy, he laughed and said 'good plan, but no chance'. Something to do with the IMEI number being connected to the account or something, and he would get shot for doing it. I said oh well, and that I just preferred the white one. He said that they were being told that O2 are getting them, I said how long and he said should be a couple of weeks but not to blame him if a bit longer. I said would they have them by Christmas and he and 3 colleagues started laughing and said 'oh god yes, way before then, it should be a couple of weeks or so, not much longer, certainly worth the wait and certainly before Christmas'. I asked him how sure, he said he wouldn't guarantee it as he didn't want to disappoint but that he was as sure as he could be and that was what all the staff were saying and the message Apple were passing down. I said O2 didn't seem to know, he laughed and said he wasn't surprised.

Make of that what you want, its as it happened, of course he and his colleagues might be making it up, or it could be true. Good if it is!

 

That's Apple's MO in their forums. Too many complaints and the thread gets axed. There have been countless threads removed from their forum about the cracking defects, too. Thankfully, Apple doesn't control this forum.

 

If he was a 'Genius' he should know.