How to get an iPhone 3G S tomorrow in US, UK, and Canada
By Ross Miller 
posted June 18th 2009 10:24PM
posted June 18th 2009 10:24PM
Didja hear the news? There's a new iPhone coming out tomorrow! Okay, snark aside, we know there's still a good number of you who want to brave the weather and grab yourself a brand spanking new 3G S, but for whatever reason didn't pre-order ahead of time. Not to worry, we're here to help!
United States
If you pre-ordered the phone in-store from AT&T, you can pick it up tomorrow at 7:00AM from that same retail outlet. Everyone else will have to wait until the normal business hours, and from there it's first come, first serve. If you're wanting to head to an Apple store, be sure to set your alarms for the right time: each one is opening at 7:00AM local time. Apple's online site has a field to let you complete pre-authorization ahead of time, but that won't guarantee you availability so still plan on waiting outside before sunrise. You can also try your luck at Best Buy and Walmart, which should be receiving some stock for each store. As for online pre-orders from either AT&T or Apple, well, just go with whatever the shipping date currently says.
United Kingdom
O2 customers can get their 3G S starting at 8:02AM -- yes, that's the official time, and not a minute sooner, we suspect -- from O2, Apple, and Carphone Warehouse stores. Prices vary based on a variety of 18 and 24 month plans, as well as Pay & Go plans.
Canada
Unsurprisingly, Rogers and subsidiary Fido will be handling your iPhone fix. Also, for the first time, you can also drop by an Apple retail store, which should open around 8:00AM local time. From what we can tell, the Rogers / Fido stores aren't opening early, but just to be safe, you might wanna call tonight or plan on showing up an hour before the usual time.
Obviously, there's more than a few countries we're not covering here, so hit up the read link to check out Apple's official site for details by region, and feel free to share your own tips in the comments below!
United States
If you pre-ordered the phone in-store from AT&T, you can pick it up tomorrow at 7:00AM from that same retail outlet. Everyone else will have to wait until the normal business hours, and from there it's first come, first serve. If you're wanting to head to an Apple store, be sure to set your alarms for the right time: each one is opening at 7:00AM local time. Apple's online site has a field to let you complete pre-authorization ahead of time, but that won't guarantee you availability so still plan on waiting outside before sunrise. You can also try your luck at Best Buy and Walmart, which should be receiving some stock for each store. As for online pre-orders from either AT&T or Apple, well, just go with whatever the shipping date currently says.
United Kingdom
O2 customers can get their 3G S starting at 8:02AM -- yes, that's the official time, and not a minute sooner, we suspect -- from O2, Apple, and Carphone Warehouse stores. Prices vary based on a variety of 18 and 24 month plans, as well as Pay & Go plans.
Canada
Unsurprisingly, Rogers and subsidiary Fido will be handling your iPhone fix. Also, for the first time, you can also drop by an Apple retail store, which should open around 8:00AM local time. From what we can tell, the Rogers / Fido stores aren't opening early, but just to be safe, you might wanna call tonight or plan on showing up an hour before the usual time.
Obviously, there's more than a few countries we're not covering here, so hit up the read link to check out Apple's official site for details by region, and feel free to share your own tips in the comments below!
wow - Blackberry is losing more and more market share...
on another note, Palm Pre has a faster browser and real life usage than iPhone 3G-S
http://cnettv.cnet.com/speed-test-apple-iphone-3g-vs-palm-pre/9742-1_53-50073193.html
although a very slow boot-up time
Look in the right hand corner of the pre and you will see that page is still loading - The CNET types are too thick to notice that I guess. ...
Yea, that's Cnet, enough said. But they're basically testing the carrier speeds, not the phone speeds. It should be relabeled ATT v Sprint.
@freediverdude: But when you consider that these phones are exclusives to these operators in the United States, it really is a part of the iPhone and the Palm Pre. They're not saying that the Pre's software/hardware capabilities for web page loading is better than the iPhone, they're saying that given with what's available for both phones, the Pre beats the iPhone in that department.
Rationalize all you want, the Pre absolutely crushed both 3G and 3G S in the real world tests.
meh i will stick with a blackberry on verizon any day...
Great, first it was Apple fanboys, then anti-Apple fanboys, now Pre fanboys.
To the OP, your post has nothing to do with where to get an iPhone!
Also, for reference, that video is more evidence that CNet is not to be trusted with reviews and "tests". The Pre may in fact be faster, but that test was a joke.
@cashmonee:
So once the iPhone is given a negative comment by a web site, that site's reputation is officially not legitimate?
@ALBGunner04: No, CNet has always sucked and quite likely will always suck.
that is a very scientific test. I think people should base their purchasing decisions on it.
Good lord, these arguments are getting boring.
@ALBGunner, no. As I said, the Pre may, in fact, be faster, but the test was so poorly done we will never know. Are you telling me that the Pre really takes almost 2 minutes to start up every time?
Here is another way to put it. You cannot come to a conclusion based on a single instance. It requires several tests with several variables accounted for. The point is CNet clearly did not think through the testing at all. The outcome is irrelevant, the test sucks.
Guys, seriously, who gives a shite whether the Pre is theoretically faster than the iPhone 3GS. It won't make a difference. It never does. People don't buy gadgets based on whether something is 3 seconds faster than the closest competitor. They buy things based on the ecosystem and Apple has the best ecosystem.
No amount of bitching is going to wash away those 50,000 apps available for the iPhone.
Sorry, this contest was decided the day Apple introduced the iPhone SDK.
@Paul a. Chapel
Also remember that 49500 of those 50000 apps are total crap. The number of times people actually using the apps after buying is VERY VERY less.
Also remember that Apple did not have innovation in this realease of iPhone.. They were simply shit scared of Palm Pre so the just released a new phone so that apple fanboys move away from the Pre.
@johnshushant1, who said: "Also remember that 49500 of those 50000 apps are total crap."
Blah, blah, blah. Keep repeating that line if it makes you feel better. I feel the same way about most of the apps available for Windows, but it doesn't change the fact that Windows has 88 percent of the market. And remember, just because YOU think some app is crap, doesn't mean that someone else doesn't find it useful. The important point is that there is so much variety in the App Store, that there's something for EVERYONE.
But the bigger point of this discussion is about speed. Speed is not going to decide this contest. The SSC Ultimate Aero is the fastest car in the world. Does anyone on your street drive one? I'm sure the answer is no and why is that? The mass market of people don't buy cars based on speed alone and that goes double for gadgets.
@johnsushant1
Hey this guy works for Apple..
he knows what they have been doing for the last year...
Do you really work at apple or are you making this all up?
I guess the 100 new features, the huge spec bump and the huge improvement of stability is just them being scared of a web-app phone.
Cuz none of that was planned before the pre was first introduced in January?
Have you used the pre? How did you like the lag... or the stolen "cards" from Apple's safari mobile web browser.
This pre shit is getting annoying, if it was selling then maybe it would be worth talking about, but its pure fail. It actually fell apart during the engadget review! LMFAO
Get over yourself palm fanboys, the game is over. Now STFU
Freak you!!! I'm just waiting for my BB Tour and show it around. Already got couple friends who were using iPhone before and they love their Curve 8900.
RIM > iPhone anytime!
I just read a review a few minutes ago for the Pre and guess what the guy was lamenting? That's right, the lack of apps. Here's the quote:
"I didn’t realize how much I’d come to depend on third-party iPhone apps until they weren’t there. There’s a Twitter app for the Pre but, you know, just one at the moment, so hopefully you like it. I don’t think there are any games to be found yet (and there is an unresolved question about what the performance of games will be like if they are required to be HTML/CSS based). My bus schedule tracker app was gone. But some stalwarts are there, like Pandora. A (somewhat unnervingly buggy) version of EverNote recently appeared."
—Steven Frank, Panic Inc.
Only a sad douche would expect a phone that's been out for less than a month to have as many 3rd party apps as a phone that's been out for years... How many "twitter" apps did the iphone have when it came out?
@Paul
Yeah, that's a really great point since the iPhone had like 30 twitter apps when it launched.
@patriotsn1 >> "Only a sad douche would expect a phone that's been out for less than a month to have as many 3rd party apps as a phone that's been out for years... How many "twitter" apps did the iphone have when it came out?"
The question shouldn't be "How many apps did the iPhone have when it came out?"
The correct question is, "How many iPhone and iPod Touch owners were capable of downloading an app when the App Store finally launched?"
When the Apple App Store first opened.... there were already millions of iPhones and iPod Touches on the market. App developers raced to get their apps onto the millions of devices... using the full SDK. On launch day, it was already a huge market. Apple created a product... let it get huge... and THEN opened their app store.
In contrast, Palm is starting on the ground floor creating both a device and the app store. It's not the same comparison.
But, getting back on topic... the Apple App Store had 200 apps at launch... 1500 the next month... 3000 the next month... and you know the rest.
Sure, 49,000 of the iPhone apps are crap... but that doesn't make it any less of a platform. It proves that there are tons of developers and plenty of users. There are 40,000,000 app-capable Apple devices. And a billion app downloads.
When was the last time 1 billion of anything was downloaded in just 9 months?
@Paul a. Chapel
You should be fair on a review. I guess you do not know the 9 months apple got before actual apps showed up in the app store. Give Pre some time and stop spreading false rumors about the Pre.
@Paul a. Chapel
The palm pre has PowerVR SGX GPU.
Yup that is the same GPU as in The new iPhone and also palm pre does support native apps. This means 3d games will also come and they do not need to be web based. You should check your facts before misleading people.
You know what news headline I'm looking forward to tomorrow?
"NEW iPhone 3GS PURCHASERS CAUSE RECEPTION BROWNOUTS NATIONWIDE"
"NOT ENOUGH NETWORK FOR ALL THE POINTLESS iPhone 3GS HOMEBREW UNBOXING VIDEOS BEING UPLOADED"
'For more on this story and numbers on how many subscribers were without a network today, join us tonight at 11PM for more of the latest updates that these customers only wish they could be getting on their new phones.
Back to you, John.'
Wait, is this a shot of the line tonight, for the 3gs or an older line pic?
Must be an old picture, there were only 4 iDiots waiting in the rain 8 hours ago.
it says "from last year" under the pic... I think the lines for this one are a lot less impressive so engadget used one from last year.
@Brickster: Oh man that was a good laugh :D I love how they shielded themselves with the Apple-branded umbrellas. I bet they call them iRain or iCover or iUmbrella
Why do people do this every time? Never understood the craving to stand in a line... It doesn't take you to heaven either :)
if you can't find enough stupid/crazy people in NYC you can't find them anywhere. I'm surprised that there are still that many of them for a product as the 3GS. Nothing new here ( since most 3G users already have os 3.0 ) and still a really long line ...
My upgrade isn't until 12/12/2009 (I guess my $91/month bill just isn't enough for AT&T) so I doubt I'll be upgrading until next summer. Maybe it'll be with a different carrier? One could only hope!
I hear ya, I pay 300 a month for 4 lines 130.00 on just my own. I can't upgrade till November. AT&T is a bunch of assholes
I know, and I pay 1200 for rent every month... And my landlord still won't buy me a new car whenever a throw a tantrum...
TOTALLY UNFAIR!!!
So what % of people on the line live in their parents' basements are are virgins?
Most basement virgins can't afford an iPhone 3Gs. or a 3G for that matter. basement virgins use 3 year olr Motorola RAZRs
O2 is 9:02, apple stores open at 8 in the UK or in other words, 4.5 hrs.
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/06/18/o2-start-selling-iphone-3g-902am-sold/
What's the point?
Of your post?
your post, dumbass!
You could always drop by Future Shop in Canada on launch day, they'll probably be much less crowded and have stock. My store received ours this morning, looking forward to the launch.
I'll be there (London Regent Street Apple Store). :)
to remain perpetually square?
There's another line in my family plan that I'm willing to upgrade on. Will I end up with two iPhone contracts? I currently have an iPhone 3G that can't upgrade until mid next year. I want to transfer the new 3G S over to my iPhone 3G plan, from another line. Is this possible? That line is upgrade eligible for the $300 pricing.
yes it is, that's exactly what i did to get my 3gs
Seriously? This is kinda pathetic
Quick, somebody drive through that big glass box thing.
Seriously I'm surprised no one has thrown a stone at that thing yet.
Just like in their first commercial :)
What the hell, engadget? Lines aren't long enough for you yet? You have to show a pic from last year? Is this in your contract with Apple?
The three social rejects that are actually there now describe what's happening, not pictures from last year.