AT&T already sold out of launch day iPhone 3G S pre-orders
Signaling a likely repeat of Apple's iPhone sell-outs of the past two years, AT&T is already warning that those making iPhone 3G S pre-orders that they won't get their handsets on launch.
The US carrier's internal sales system is asking staff to tell customers that any pre-orders made on Saturday the 13th or later won't ship on launch and instead will reach retail locations between 7 and 14 days after the order is made, overshooting the release date.
Those who delayed their pre-orders long enough but who still want an iPhone 3G S the same day will have to wait at an AT&T (or Apple) store until regular availability starts at 8 a.m. rather than the 7 a.m. early access time touted earlier this week, Boy Genius hears. Any pre-orders, however, will receive an e-mail once their device is in stock.
While unfortunate for those who hadn't already set aside money for the faster, more feature-laden Apple smartphone, the sell-out bodes well for early sales, which will include not only retail pick-ups but, unlike last year, online pre-orders. Some had feared that high upgrade fees for customers who bought a previous iPhone too soon to qualify for a full discount would deter many from queuing up in the same way they had in 2008.
Besides Apple and AT&T outlets, Best Buy and Walmart locations should also have the iPhone 3G S for sale on June 19th, albeit with regular store hours.
The US carrier's internal sales system is asking staff to tell customers that any pre-orders made on Saturday the 13th or later won't ship on launch and instead will reach retail locations between 7 and 14 days after the order is made, overshooting the release date.
Those who delayed their pre-orders long enough but who still want an iPhone 3G S the same day will have to wait at an AT&T (or Apple) store until regular availability starts at 8 a.m. rather than the 7 a.m. early access time touted earlier this week, Boy Genius hears. Any pre-orders, however, will receive an e-mail once their device is in stock.
While unfortunate for those who hadn't already set aside money for the faster, more feature-laden Apple smartphone, the sell-out bodes well for early sales, which will include not only retail pick-ups but, unlike last year, online pre-orders. Some had feared that high upgrade fees for customers who bought a previous iPhone too soon to qualify for a full discount would deter many from queuing up in the same way they had in 2008.
Besides Apple and AT&T outlets, Best Buy and Walmart locations should also have the iPhone 3G S for sale on June 19th, albeit with regular store hours.
Comments
Any idea if this is also true for pre-orders through the Apple website?
The Apple website VERY clearly says on each page of the pre-order that pre-registering for an iPhone through the web site DOES NOT GUARANTY the availability at the Retail Store -- although Apple will allow those who are pre-registered in at 8 am to pick up their iPhones while the regular sales line will start processing at 10 am. You are pretty much in good shape to pick it up at Apple stores instead since they ship hundreds (thousands in some stores) of units, whereas ATT gets a smidgen of them (20 - 100 per store for the 3G launch last summer)
You can also purchase your iPhone 3Gs at the Apple Online Store -- as of this week they were delivering them to you ON the 19th -- that apparently is also already back to the 23rd according to the Apple Forums on the iPhone threads...
Just a reminder to everyone -- if you have ANYTHING at all that has to be fixed on your ATT line, the sale will NOT go through at the Apple stores -- i.e. you can upgrade your own line, or buy a new line of service, but you can't switch phone numbers, nor do anything like move one line from a family line to your iPhone line, etc....all that has to be done at ATT stores.
Any idea if this is also true for pre-orders through the Apple website?
Yes, I was talking to an Apple Tech on the store chat because I wanted to switch from a reservation to just getting it shipped to me and she said the following.
?\tYou are chatting with Yolanda, an Apple Expert
?\tHi, my name is Yolanda. Welcome to Apple!
?\tYou: Hello, Earlier in the week I preordered an iPhone and decided to reserve it at the store, unfortunately I won?t be able to pick it up at the store. Can I now just re-preorder it and have it shipped to me? Or will there be a problem?
?\tYolanda: Good evening.
?\tYolanda: How may I help you today?
?\tYolanda: You can call Customer Service to cancel the order.
?\tYolanda: If you don't show up on the 19th, that is okay acutally.
?\tYolanda: The numbers of orders has exceeded the first shipments to the stores.
?\tYolanda: Meaning we are expected to not have enough on the 19th to give out anyway.
?\tYolanda: its okay if you go in a day or two later for pickup.
?\tYou: Okay, thank you very much
Pre-orders for iPhone 3G S will be shipped with overnight priority and will be processed to arrive as early as June 19, 2009, if submitted by 12 p.m. noon C.T., June 17, 2009.
I guess I will find out next week.
Signaling a likely repeat of Apple's iPhone sell-outs of the past two years, AT&T is already warning that those making iPhone 3G S pre-orders that they won't get their handsets on launch.
What AT&T is really trying to say is this:
"We don't want to carry so much inventory of the (goddam bandwidth hogging!) iPhones as to distract our employees from selling other brands of smartphones to our (we got them in the store their OURS NOW!) customers"
What do you think about customers who aren't pre-ordering? A few members of my family and I are planning on purchasing iPhones next weekend but because you can only pre-order one at a time we're expecting to wait in line. Do you think they'll save some inventory for those who are purchasing the day of?
the will have inventory to sell, after all they did announce that every store will have 2 lines, one for pre-orders and one for people without.
Sales will be much larger than the 3g when it came out. So much for all the whining from nay sayers about upgrade costs.
I was just thinking that. Imagine the supply problem if all 3G owners were eligible immediately. I'm pretty sure the different upgrade dates are party to reduce strains on supply, partly to reduce strains on the network, and partly to make sure there's an increase in GAAP income every quarter.
Why would anyone order this thing and then go make a line at the store? AT&T will ship it free to your house and the Apple store will ship it to your house or place of work, all for free.
I guess people want to play with it that extra 6 hours ahead of time.
Why would anyone order this thing and then go make a line at the store? AT&T will ship it free to your house and the Apple store will ship it to your house or place of work, all for free.
Because you've been waiting to get one since the original came out, and you want it at 7am in the morning not whenever the delivery dude shows up. It's geeky and fanboyish (not that any fanboys/girls post on this site
Guess with all this pre-orders talk, the boys at Apple don't have to worry about "Preness envy"!
What they are really trying to say is this:
"We don't want to carry so much inventory of the (goddam bandwidth hogging!) iPhones as to distract our employees from selling other brands of smartphones to our (we got them in the store their OURS NOW!) customers"
You can always walk into a Sprint store for the Pre. The lines were sparse on it's opening. I'm sure they'll be three or four bored sales personnel ready to do something.
and partly to make sure there's an increase in GAAP income every quarter.
They have chosen to defer revenue recognition for the iphone, so they will recognize revenues each quarter no matter when the phones are sold.
That said, any educated investor pretty much ignores GAAP. The first thing you do with GAAP financials is back out the non cash charges and add in the cash items that are deferred. The most important figure is Free Cash Flow, and that IS influenced by when a sale is made, or more accurately, whenever AT&T and the other carries make the subsidized payments. At that point Apple has the money to spend, invest, or payout as a dividend, even if the revenue will not be booked under GAAP for another two years. There is an old saying that you can spend cash but you can not spend net income.
Sales will be much larger than the 3g when it came out. So much for all the whining from nay sayers about upgrade costs.
I have a bad feeling about the launch weekend. I have seen steady bandwidth upgrades across the country this year, but I am afraid it?s not enough. Then there are still issues with cities that are already over populated. Then there is an issue with account activations. The first year was certainly an issue and the 2nd year was pretty good for pretty much everyone, with most of the complaining coming from having to wait a few hours for activation when they tell you it could take up to 24 hours. I?m certain this year will sell more than 1M for the weekend. Can AT&T handle it within reason?
the will have inventory to sell, after all they did announce that every store will have 2 lines, one for pre-orders and one for people without.
If they have same number of employees for each line and we assume that the pre-order has reduced several minutes from each purchase you may have to get there extra early to have a shot if you don?t pre-order.
You can always walk into a Sprint store for the Pre. The lines were sparse on it's opening. I'm sure they'll be three or four bored sales personnel ready to do something.
I wonder if AT&T/Apple will sell more than 50k units and if it will be considered a failure because they didn?t sell 10x the amount they did sell.
I have a bad feeling about the launch weekend. I have seen steady bandwidth upgrades across the country this year, but I am afraid it?s not enough. Then there are still issues with cities that are already over populated. Then there is an issue with account activations. The first year was certainly an issue and the 2nd year was pretty good for pretty much everyone, with most of the complaining coming from having to wait a few hours for activation when they tell you it could take up to 24 hours. I?m certain this year will sell more than 1M for the weekend. Can AT&T handle it within reason?
I'm not worried about the launch this year. Last year was a disaster, in part, because they launched iPhone OS 2.0 at the same time. As a result, a lot of the installed base was upgrading the firmware, which required re-activation.
This year, the firmware comes out 2 days early (thanks to the WWDC and torrents, it's been installed by quite a number already). In addition to just being better prepared this year as a routine, many of the iPhones are being sent out via pre-order...and many iPhones will be sent to far more locations than last year.
All the pre-order iPhones will have the first stage of activation already completed, so it will just be the second stage that will need to be completed.
Furthermore, we're going to see many more people upgrading this year rather than first time buyers on day one. These people already have their AT&T accounts, iTunes, and everything else ready to go.
As far as AT&T carrier service goes...
If you get a 3G S, and live in certain areas, you're going to see an improvement. Contrary to what people think, AT&T has been rapidly improving their service capabilities around the country and are aggressively continuing to do so. So while this launch may result in a little bit of a setback in some areas, overall AT&T is getting its act together.