This'll come as no surprise to those of you that've been following our
worldwide line / stock watch, but with lines hitting six hours long, Apple's started capping them so that stores can close and prepare for tomorrow. Reports of line capping are coming mostly from larger stores in the East Coast and Midwest, but the Glendale Apple store in California is reportedly capped as well. Interestingly, while carrier stores worldwide have all sold out, we've heard that most Apple stores have had more than enough inventory -- one tipster reported that delivery trucks were being used to store overflow, since the main stock rooms were full at his local store -- so we're guessing the lines have more to do with the
slowness of the activation process catching Apple off-guard. It certainly wasn't smooth sailing today, but eventually things
started working, and it seems like anger's turned to love for a lot of folks. And isn't that the basis of every good relationship? Oh, right. So who's going to get up and do this all again with us tomorrow?
posted Jul 11th 2008 10:49PM
ANYBODY who spent a whole week or even more than an hour in line for the iPhone 3G needs to get a life! Its is a piece of plastic and metal not superman!!
sorry for the double post....it was an accident.
Its alright i ranked you up to counter the trolls. BTW my reply below was a joke don't take it personal.
ben u speak the troof
i have u minus though - not sure why - i hate apple fanatics
I walked into my local AT&T store and asked. The first answer was "no"... then the guy thought of something and asked if I was a current AT&T subscriber. I said "not yet" and he told me to hold on a second, and then went into the back room. When he came back out he said they had exactly ONE 8GB phone that had been on hold for someone who never showed up, and it was mine if I wanted it. Hell yeah, I did. A friend had gone to the Apple Store and had been waiting for almost 3 hours when I got my phone (no wait at all), and he waited another hour before he got a chance to snag his. I should also add that, surprisingly, AT&T had my phone number ported over from Sprint in under 2 hours. That's damn impressive... now if only my phone would decide if it gets 1 or 5 bars in my apartment. It seems to depend on which way the breeze is blowing.
That's the exact same words she used when I handed her a battery-powered nighttime companion.
@ Matt
It took them 2 hours to port a phone number?
When I ported to T-Mobile from AT&T it took all but 10 minutes.
@Tony: Given the volume of activations today, I think 2 hours to port a number from Sprint is actually kinda impressive.
actually I don't think there's any metal on the phone anymore, at least externally.
I think it's hysterical your post is low-ranked...
I'm betting someone behind the scenes at engadget low-ranked you after spanking to his iphone2.0 for the 400th time....
Yeah and even if it WAS superman...you couldnt buy him so...yeah relax!
You people so fat!!!!
I guess that's why they call America the land where everything is bigger!!!
I agree completely. And to add to it, you will get thousands upon thousands that will wait in line to get their latest apple toy but when you take away their civil liberties and freedoms via a big brother police state they wont even move a finger.
@jroc
Agreed. Sadly, these will probably be the same people asking the US gov't for a bailout when they can't make the monthly payments on their mortgage, credit card, etc, because, once again, they have over-extended themselves.
Being a 5th generation American citizen, I think it's truly pathetic the lack of accountability we hold not only to our government, but ourselves as citizens.
@jroc
Yeah but Americans are lazy. Which is easier stand in line or take political action?
this is bull..... I got up at 630 am .. in louisiana (Sulphur) and got my iphone... but I haven't been able to activated... itunes says some sh1t about SSL 3.0... it's been 18 hours
Why dont you try with a hammer, im sure it will resolve your problem.
ANYBODY who spent a whole week or even more than an hour in line for
the iPhone 3G needs to get a life! Its is a piece of plastic and
metal not superman!!
Yes. It is.
Anyone who makes another account to double post should get a life.
*Disclaimer: I am not an owner of any apple product therefore I am not defending apple in any way shape or form.
the double post was an accident
I spend 6 hours in line to get one for my wife, would i do it again???? No F*****G way, also if you have the old model you should test drive the new one before signing for 2 extra years cause 3G is a bit faster than edge but it might not be as fast as you think it is. My own opinion, if you have the old model you might wanna hold on to it a bit longer cause $15 extra a month for the new one is not worth it i believe
Lol your just as guilty for surfing the interwebs then posting a flame comment on a comment page for a post about iphone. EPIC FAIL
So you didn't get the phone? muahahahaa
More iPhone posts tomorrow? =)
You know it. There hasn't been a "what would you change" yet.
lol
I got to an Apple Store in Atlanta at about 8:15 this morning, and I didn't get inside until 4:00. They had plenty left and I got the iPhone I wanted.
It was all worth it.
I was at the AT&T store in Athens, GA at 5:45AM, was 20th in line. By 8am there were 100 people in line. I was out of the store by 9 with my phone, no problems. I'm happy.
A release of iPod touch software would be a good start...
Does anyone know if they're cutting off the line at the 5th Avenue store in New York?? It's normally open 24x7 so wondering if they're going to keep selling throughout the night.
Had a crazy time today - ended up taking upwards of 7 hours, but I met a lot of cool (like literally, there were like B-C list stars in line with the rest of us) people. According to the great Apple girl who activated me, they are open through the night and recommended people come in after 11 or so. Migrated with the same group of people through a few AT&T stores and eventually ended up at the Fifth Ave store. Seriously, it was a fun day.
I love that area where the Apple Cube is located. I can just snatch somebody's iPhone and run north into Central Park to lose whoever tries to chase me. Plenty of places to hard in the dark. Even New York's Finest don't like going in there at night. I hope this doesn't deter you from standing and waiting in line. We all gotta survive in this economic crisis, you know.
I got to the Cube after midnight Friday, and the Apple employee at the back of the line said AT&T was offline until 7 a.m., so purchases were at a standstill. Apple was trying to think up a runaround for the folks in line, but I bailed at that point. Wonder if that will happen to them all weekend...
Hmm good question. Anyway Brea Mall in Brea CA was capped sometime between 4-5 and at 4 it was said that it might go past nine already, apparently they were having problems.
I've gotta say: this launch seems very un-Apple and un organized. With iPhone's being able to be activated in iTunes then we could all do it at home.
What was the problem with the idea of giving more stock to AT&T Stores so they can actively use their salespeople to actually sell the iPhone instead of hustle preorders?
I walked into my AT&T store today and there were about 12 employees standing at the door waiting for something to do. I have no problem with waiting a few extra days instead of waiting in line for 4 hours at our Apple store down the road, but common sense says to move the product as efficiently as possible using everybody that's being paid.
Oops sorry double post, had some serious lag there...
The same thing happened when I passed by an AT&T store, I was going to a Target Store and next to the Target there was an AT&T store and there were no lines and hardly any people inside, mostly what you saw through the windows were just the Employees. They even had the "Please wait to be served" or something line that sign out there...
i think apple gets 100 more bucks for signing new customers.
What was the problem with the idea of giving more stock to AT&T Stores so they can actively use their salespeople to actually sell the iPhone instead of hustle preorders?
I walked into my AT&T store today and there were about 12 employees standing at the door waiting for something to do. I have no problem with waiting a few extra days instead of waiting in line for 4 hours at our Apple store down the road, but common sense says to move the product as efficiently as possible using everybody that's being paid.
It was Apple's idea not to give ATT more phones. Two fold, Apple salespeople would make less money and this would allow for year 6 when Apple becomes it's own carrier.
I guess you're right, but for the short term it would also make sense to cut down on Apple staff costs and make AT&T pay for the bitchwork in exchange for asking to have all iPhones activated in store, taking up valuable resources and staff
Apple retail salespeople don't get paid commission and I'm pretty sure AT&T salespeople get paid by AT&T not Apple.
That's exactly why it'd make sense to make AT&T use people they pay for to activate the iPhones in store.
The activation limitation was what slowed down the purchase process to a crawl, taking up more time per sale than usual transactions.
walked into the local store today too. everyone standing around. apparently the entire inventory around this state was sold out in the first 2 hours. which is halfway between west coast and midwest states
I went to the Burlingame, CA Apple Store at 7:30 AM and got in at 1:30. I got the iPhone I wanted and the activation process was pretty smooth.
dont u think your time is better well spend at work where you make money and coming back on the weekend
It took 4 hours for me to get to the counter at the Apple Store Domain in Austin. The process took me 5 minutes from there. The upgrade to my ATT account took a minute tops. Then he walked me to a guy to activate it. Once the phone was started, iTunes activated it in just a few seconds. Then I was out of there.
With the activation problem taken care of, the real hold up was people that were at the front and learning that they weren't eligible for an upgrade. On dude didn't have photo ID. A few people were on their parents account and not able to make changes. This after standing in line for hours! A few people at the counter were still hemming and hawing about what calling plan they wanted.
The new phone is great. But if I had to do it again, I'd wait until the lines are gone.
Seems like AT&T got shafted pretty big on stock compared to Apple. Waited in line since 4 in the morning. Was number 28 in line and when I got in there they were already sold out of all of their 16gb iPhones, black and white. Pretty pissed off. I'm in central Illinois and there were at least 100 people in line. What's the big deal, Apple?
Central Illinois here too... same story. What a crock. It wouldn't have been too bad if they had at least let people know a rough estimate of their stock. If you were number 60 in line, it would have been nice to know if they only had ten 16-gb ones. Instead, their only update was "We're out".
WESSSSSST SSSSSSIDE! *throws up gang sign*
Will AT&T stores get more for tomorrow??
WEST STAINES MASSIV!!!!!!!!!!
-BOOYAKASHA!
... west side...
lol that movie was hilarious
Ahh man, this is getting boring. Toooo much iphone coverage. Come on engadget, isn’t there anything else you could write about. I’m starting to believe that you guys getting paid to report(spam) iPhone as much as possible. Seriously, stop it
All the news sites report that things are going much smoother for iPhone customers -- what about iPod Touch users -- why isn't anyone explaining why we STILL can't buy and download the 2.0 update??? I may not pay a monthly AT&T contract but I still paid just as much for my device!
Really? You drop upwards of $720 a year on your ipod touch plus taxes? Please explain.
haha, just kidding. I just didn't want to let the sarcasm die after your post.
Steve is the man. He's got people lining up for days excited beyond belief to buy a 'new' iPhone that adds 3G and GPS.
Except most places aren't covered by AT&T's 3G network, and there is no GPS app for the iPhone. What exactly are these people waiting for again? Do they even know?
There's a reason that the iPhone still has a crappy camera with no MMS, video recording, copy/paste, etc, etc, etc... Because it doesn't NEED to be a complete product to sell out. Because the competition still hasn't quite caught up yet and there has to be something held back to add for the next new iPhone...
Imagine the lines if the new iPhone had some real improvements over the original. Apple wouldn't be able to keep up. Another reason to hold back I guess.
I love my new iPhone, but buying it was the worst shopping experience of my life. I got to the Apple store at 5:30 and was about 30th in line. By 08:20 was I was in the store. I got paired up with an Apple employee immediately. I told her I had two 1st gen iPhones on a family plan, and wanted to upgrade to two 3G iPhones. She actually said to me that she didnt think I was eligible and that I should check with ATT! Another employee corrected her by telling her that previous iPhone owners were eligible for upgrades, but how could she not know this. I then got paired up with another Apple rep, who would handle the buying process. The purchase would not process because I had a FAN discount through work (still a personal account, I just got a discount). No matter what, the system would not let me buy it even if I said forget about the discount, I dont need it. So the supervisor came over and told me my only option was to sign up for two new lines and port them over to the old number later. I did this, and successfully bought the iPhones. The next step was iTunes activation, but the iTunes servers were down (only 0900AM), and so I waited with the iPhones plugged it to their computers. While waiting, I decided to call ATT to get a start on porting the numbers and cancelling the two new numbers they gave me. The ATT rep said that this would not be possible and that I would have to return to the store and repurchase. I decided to have her remove my FAN discount. She did. So I returned the iPhones right then and there while still in the store. And I set off the repurchase two new phones (they could not resell the same ones I returned), this time using a FAN-less upgrade instead of two new numbers. The system would not process it again, and said I should go to an ATT store. So I called ATT again, who said that the FAN discount was still not completely removed from my account, and said now it was. So I tried again, and again, and again, and again, to buy it, but the EasyPay system still said there was a problem with my account. Then the EasyPay servers all went down (along with iTunes activation servers, and Apple employees could not do anything at all. After about two hours of trying, I said to hell with it, there was no way I was leaving without iPhones after all this time. So I purchased the iPhones again under two NEW numbers, and left without iTunes activation. This was after 2:30 hours waiting in line and 3:30 hours inside the Apple store. After getting home the iTunes activation servers were still down. So I transferred my SIMS from my old iPhones to the new ones and waited. Eventually I activated, but one iPhone had no service. So I called ATT. Long story short, they said I had to go to the ATT store, which I did. The ATT store made a bunch of changes to my account, and I left. Still a problem. So I call ATT back and spend another 1:30 on the phone before I have two working iPhones. It was a very long and frustrating day to say the least. All of this because I had a stupid 15% discount on my service. I love my phones, but ATT AND Apple dropped the ball on this activation issue majorly.
hello from the lynnwood, wa apple store. we're hoping we'll have our iPhones in about another hour :-)
Went to the Apple store last night after work (sydney, australia) and was packed and security were not letting anymore people in. same with the optus store on george street. went down to my local shopping centre this morning 3 stores sold out. Vodafone stores still have them but plans are a rip off so no ones going there. Tried my luck up the road at one last shop at 9:10 this morning. They had 1 8gb left which made me happy as thats the one I wanted and on optus plan as well.
Funny though, we were doing the paperwork whict took about half an hour but people kept calling the store asking about stock. Felt good to know I got the last one...
Today was the worst day of my life. I am living in Austin, TX. On the morning I started looking for a place to buy the new iphone 3G, but everything came worst, every at&t what I visited it was out of stock, I was walking and driving and the weather it was too hot... around 95 F. Then I went to the Apple Barton Creek Store and the line was cut off, So the only and the last place to visit was the Luxury Domain Apple Store, it is so far to my house but i went over there and the line was cut off. Some guy was selling his place for $100. But When Finally decided to try again tomorrow, I was taking pictures with my old iPhone 16GB and this fall to my hands and it has a crash in the corner next to the camera. It is the second time that happened to me. The first time was the first week when I bought my 8GB iphone but Amex gave me my money back cause I have an insurance with my Credit Card. So I am angry, hungry, tired and I have to call Amex again tonight and then go to Barton Creek Apple store tomorrow at the morning cause I work on the afternoon...damm
Dorian,
If this is what equates to the worst day of your life, you have a lot of living to do.
SP
I have to admit that if this constitutes the worst day of your life, you've had a pretty good life. :P
Ohhh snap, ya beat me to it.
The worst day of the rest of your life was the day your English teacher gave you a passing grade.
I don't get it why are people so impatient I wanted a 16gb black iphone so I went to the nearest att store at 5:30 pm they had none in stock but they said that they could send apple a request form thing and put my name on on if I paid for the phone then. So I did that now they will call me in about 4-7 days so i can go pick it up. I don't need to be first I just one one.
please iphone news go away... i like gadget news, I don't lust for shit... I'm not a consumer slave.... But when people talk about the worst days of their lives? come on now...
Sadly the gadget sites report on this crap cause it drives the traffic.. I'd love to see the site analytics that these fan-boys are hitting the gadget sites with to make the "blog as a business" sites report this shit all day.
west side rules, we proved that when berlin was split down the middle
Ok. I am lucky one but I already know my insurance is expired, that cover to me just for 90 days. LOL. Yesterday was my birthday and tomorrow is going to be a new day. Good Luck guys.
lol you're all fools for waiting in line and buying 3G Iphone on ebay for 1k when in a few weeks they will be world wide and without a contract. I'm going to import mine from France, jailbreak it, and use a US prepaid SIM card =]
How much money will i be saving? More than you, more than an ipod touch owner.
This is starting to be funny.
Hell I might just go tomorrow afternoon if they get their act together and in the meantime I've had the app store for 2 days and loving it.
I still can't make up my mind if I want a white one or to go with black.
Just posted this in another thread here, but figured I'd try this one too, since it's more recent.
I'm in the northern 'burbs of Chicago and was at an AT&T store which sold out stupidly fast this morning...
I already paid and committed to receiving one when they get their next shipment in next week, but had no idea that Apple stores were so stocked.
I wouldn't mind waiting in a 2-hour line this weekend for one. Is this a bad idea, since AT&T won't be getting theirs until mid-week next week?
They notify you when it comes in, and after 7 days if you don't pick it up they cancel your charge.
The Apple store at the fashion square mall at Sherman Oaks galleria in Sherman Oaks ca (los angeles) capped the line 40 deep out of about 500 (many waiting 6 + hours) at around 6:30 even though they were open until 11. They said it was an estimate of how many people they could get through for the night, and if they could fit more people in they would, because they had plenty of stock. But mall security wasn't so kind, calling LAPD about patrons "rioting." two hilarious officers showed up and advised us simply not to riot. They seemed to think it was as ridiculous as we all did. At one point I overheard the head of security asking the officers to ask the customers in line to leave or threaten to arrest them, to which the officer replied "I cant do that since no one is breaking the law." The store staff told us they would give out numbers so we could come back tomorrow morning and retain our place in line. They quickly retracted that, but asked the officers to spread the word. Probably because we would start to "riot" again. People were still in a shrinking line when they told us the store was closing and no one was getting phones. I left after that, as people were getting angry, but the store was still admitting a few people at a time.
I live right outside of Philly and went to the Ardmore Apple Store. The line wasnt crazy long but I had to wait 3 hours before I got the white one. The activation process was quick and was helped my a super friendly Apple gal named "Lilly". It took no more than 10 minutes for her to get the iPhone get my info and activate the phone.
I think what slows down the whole process is people not having everything ready at the point of sale. The apple guy always came around and told what was needed for purchase. Before I got the Ardmore store I called tons of AT&T stores and they were all out of stock. After checking Engadget I decided to stop on by the Apple Store to see what was up. Clearly Apple stores have tons of iPhones and it didnt look like the line today wiped out the stock at the store I went to. It is very realistic that you can pick up an iPhone tomorrow morning at an Apple Store.
Stupid question ... how quickly are AT&T stores being resupplied? My local AT&T store ran out of stock before I got off work ... am I screwed for a week+ or should I try tomorrow?
For what it's worth...
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/07/10/att-iphone-3g-shipment-info/
I completely agree, as I see another omg iphone software post...
YOU GUYS at&t are handing this country it's ass in regards to privacy.. but most of you seem to care not as long as you can suck apple's corporate cock.
aww my post was deleted for being anti iphone and anti at&t.... at&t is doing us much harm guys.... please.. put your gadget boners away and read up on this stuff.
I was the last one in line at the Chestnut Hill, MA Apple Store. I got there at 10:30pm and was home with a shiny, new, and best of all activated 16 gigger within an hour. Wait in line for 4 hrs? No thanks.
Here's something to note, which might be worth covering in an article
on Engadget. Rogers is the provider of the new 3G iPhone here in
Canada. Only issue, their plans are nowhere near the US plans. Here's
an article that discusses more about these issues, and what Canadian's
have done to fight this outrage. I have also linked the petition site
that is standing up against this.
Article:
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=b77e90b0-5ca2-4268-b9ae-4b879f37f484
Petition Site:
http://ruinediphone.com/
@spellprince
I think your jealousy is starting to show just a wee bit. Take it easy to lower that blood pressure. I know poverty can take a toll on an individual, but let's not go overboard with anger. Have you tried asking your boss for a raise? Tell him you need an iPhone badly so you can take an online anger-management course.
Gee, did you see the lines for all those rich people buying iPhones. One iPhone for each member of the family. The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing daily. Best to be on the have's side, I'll tell you that much.
joshua, you hit the nail on the head. I can't ever remember or imagine another product getting the diaper treatment like this is. Unreal.
So all I hear on the news is about how our economy is in the toilet, no one has any money; they can't afford their house, they can't afford their car b/c of gas, they can't afford....
But somehow tens of thousands of people have plenty of time to wait in line to spend thousands of dollars (with service contract) for a completely voluntary purchase. Ah, the logic of today's America.
Come on up here to Canada.
Rogers shorted pretty much everyone. They opened their flagship stores at 8am and promised breakfast to anyone who would stand in line. The breakfast ended up being a granola bar [and wow - did I mention Canadians love irony? - because it's pretty thick in that one] and then all those poor idiots who lined up found out they only had 100 units.
Even worse, since they were also sending units to affiliates, in most cases, if you just walked over to the Wireless Wave - or over to Fido [which is wholly owned by Rogers] you could get one, because of course, no one had been mentioning these facts. So, by end of day, the Fido store by my place still had stock. :)
But wait - not *quite* enough... The $30/mo 6GB plan they coughed up at the last second to make the iPhone even faintly acceptable? Wellll.. it's not just for iPhone - you can get it with *any* smartphone including Windows Mobile phones.
Still more - go to the Fido or Rogers website and try to actually BUY an iPhone with the $30 plan... go on... I dares ya. :) Because you can't. You have to call and order it by phone.
Ah Rogers.. could you have screwed up something so simple any worse than this? I don't think so.
The local Apple Store in Bellevue, WA had plenty of stock. But they were only letting a handful of people in at a time. At about 10.30 I got into the store and tried to get a phone. At the precise moment, the AT&T activation server fell over so none of the West Coast stores could complete transactions. The server won't be up until 5am. Game over.
I got a card with a number on it so I can bypass the line tomorrow (or whenever there is a line since I might have other things to do tomorrow - imagine that!) and that's about it.
Nice one. That's more hours than I care to admit that I will never get back...
Just back from Apple Store, Fifth Avenue NYC, after 6 hrs wait. AND NO IPHONE..... They said AT&T's server will be down from 2am to 7am. After more then 300 people started shouting and booing, they issued 'Claim Ticket' so that we can come next day any time after 7am for iPhone without staying in line. They just cant handle volume.
On the west side. Got in line at 5:30 pm at Topanga Mall. Waited FIVE hours and at 11:00 they said that the activation server shut down for the night. It was supposed to stay on till 12:30. So they gave us all numbers and placed stickers on iPhones with our names and matching number. So now we all have to go back tomorrow and wait again (although not as long at least. they'll push us to the front of the line). The authorization process for those that were ahead of us took forever.
Why the hell didn't Apple send more phones to the actual ATT stores? It's more than a bit ridiculous that there are Apple stores with literal truckloads of phones while all the ATT stores are sold out. We're being told around here that we have to wait a week for more phones to come in. Thanks, Apple. Stupid fucks.
10 hours later I'm home from the 5th ave store with a phone. When I got on line I thought the wait would be 2 maybe 3 hours - then at midnight I got to the front of the line, 6 people ahead of me, and they say they're not selling anymore. Then 45 minutes later they say they'll sell as much as they can until 3. So I go inside, buy my phone, they system crashes losing my phone number somewhere in space. Now I have an iphone, but my phone number doesn't match it and noone was around at AT & T to help. Would I have done this had I known? NO!!! Stay away, far far away for the next week or two while they sort out the madness.
ps - usually i'm a very rational person.
Thank you pocketchalker for you comments about my english, I don't have a grade yet. I'm working on it. Sorry.
7am est 9 people in line at Montgomery mall apple store in md.
Why apple can't just skip this idiotic Activation process..
open the Iphone for every one.
who ever want to buy it can just go to the store pay 400$ or so,
and buy the Iphone..
they are loosing SO much money over this...
Such a mess with lines, problems with ATT servers,
why they need it ? WHY ?
went to my local phone store victoria, australia, naturally all first batch sold beforehand, but no queue because it wasn't listed as a stockist on the web. anyway me and my sister were there for maybe half an hour signing up for the second batch (which could be in as soon as tomorrow) 3rd and 4th in line. most of the time was chatting to the guy who served us. did get to play with the demo phone they had kickin' around.
P.S. I also bought and downloaded the 2.0 iTouch update this arvo. App store, a few new settings. not much to see. AU$12.99
People who care this much about a product need therapy. I mean, the PS3 and the Wii, I get that. I still wouldn't stand in line for that because I'm not stupid. But to stand in line for a phone? Just a phone. That speaks to a whole new level of problems. It's not like there are phoners out there. It's not a hobby or a thing for enjoyment. It's to talk to people on and act like a tard showing off like you're important like "oh my I have an iPhone, I hope people glance at me like I'm important." I see too many people like that. You know, the same people who go to Starbucks and carry around their drink even when it's empty so that everyone knows they can afford a starbucks drink. Society is so shallow.
Just walked by the 14th St store in NYC - I would estimate about 150 in line. That was about at 8:30 or 8:45. What's that? A four or five hour wait. I almost got in line...until I realized that I didn't need a phone that instant...that I could stand to do something better with my life for a few hours...that the iphone would still exist in a couple of hours or a couple of days or a couple of weeks...then I realized I didnt need a phone at all...then I sold all of my stuff and bought a ticket to Argentina....I'm going to become a visceral realist! Love one another!
I waited 7 hours yesterday at the 5th ave. apple store (I am in the picture above), leaving at 1:45 in the morning without a phone, since their servers went down AGAIN (yes it seems insane, but they kept giving us wrong time estimates and once you've waited a certain amount of time, it's hard to just walk away).
They gave us vouchers though, so hopefully the wait should be relatively short today, although I'm reticent to go back there.
I've never cared much about my phone. Don't use it that much. Live on a river in a bit of a canyon and phone only works when I leave. BUT ...
I'm starting a new biz and spending a lot of time out and about so decided to get a grown-up phone. Spent the night on my cot at the AT&T store, got my phone at 1 minute after 8am, had it partially working a bit after lunch. Got it fully synched and activated and unbricked or whatever right after dinner. WOW!
THIS is a nice piece of work. I downloaded Mahler's 1st and 5th symphony to my puter and iphone last night. First time on i-tunes and it was a breeze. I live 45 miles from any city and my phone works fine as long as I'm not in a gully or ravine. Web loads as fast as my Hughes satellite at the house (well, almost as fast).
This phone is so cool. I haven't been as pleased with a piece of tech since I bought my Nikon D3. Yeah it's too bad Apple muffed the launch but caca happens.