Experiences on line (or in line as non New-Yorkers say) buying an iPhone

Background (which some of you may already know). I ordered a Space
Gray 64 GB iPhone 6 Plus at about 7:30 on the morning of Sept 12, and
was informed that it would be delivered in the middle of October, while
I would be out of town. For various reasons I wanted to have the new
phone with me on that trip, so I decided to buy one at an Apple Store.

I live about halfway between Two Apple Stores, one inside a traditional
mall, and one in an open mall or shopping center. I opted for the
latter because it was slightly closer and because I've gotten a nicer
vibe there in the past. Turns out that was not my best decision, but
more about that later.

I went to bed at 9 PM Thursday evening, setting my alarm to 3 AM, but
it soon became apparent that I would not be able to fall asleep, so I
got dressed and went to the Apple store. When I got there at about
10:30, there was a line formed and I became about the 100th person on
it. Being on a line, waiting to buy something, becomes a social
experience, an I was chatting (not chatting up) with the people around
me. By 4:30 AM, there were another 50 or so people behind me. I
didn't bother to count after then.

At 6 AM, they split the line into two; those who had pre-ordered and
opted to pick up the phone at the store, and those of us who were
waiting to buy and who had not pre ordered. (BTW, when I had placed my
order on line, picking up at the store was not an option.) They did
not use a reservation system, but were letting people into the store
directly from the line; this was apparently a last-minute decision
because they had previously described how the reservation system would
work.

Based on experience waiting for previous iPhone models, I estimated
that I'd get into the store about 10 to 10:30 am. Was I ever wrong!!!

The process was inordinately slow, and waiting times were much longer
than I had estimated. I found out, from a blueshirt, that the reason
was that the overwhelming majority of people buying the phone were
upgrading from an earlier model of iPhone, and that almost all of them
had not backed up their phone. So before they could restore from a
backup, they first had to back up to iCloud, and that took a lot longer
than if they had been smart enough to have backed up before going to
the store. As a result, I didn't get to buy my phone until 2:00 or
2:30 PM!

As the day wore on, it got hotter and hotter; the store kept
distributing bottles of water and also gave out umbrellas so we could
shield ourselves from the sun. I give them big props for that. But if
I had gone to the other store, I would have been inside a mall, and not
have had that problem.

As we were waiting in the line, a blueshirt came by with one of each
phone to let us try them on for size, so to speak. Also, about noonish
or 1 PMish, I went into the store to charge my iPhone and iPad; I had
been using them extensively, and both had about 10% battery charge
left. While there, I was able to handle a 6 and 6 Plus a bit more.
The Plus felt a bit too large for my and, and felt awkward holding to
my face as a phone. The latter could be handled by use of Bluetooth or
speakerphone. (I have one friend who is hearing impaired, and can't
use BT or speakerphone when speaking with her because they degrade the
quality.) On the other hand, the six plus has optical image
stabilization and the screen rotates when putting the phone sideways.

When I finally got to actually buy the phone, I still hadn't made up my
mind, so I asked the blueshirt what 64GB phones for AT&T they still had
in stock. They had every color model of the iPhone 6, but only gold
for the iPhone 6 Plus. So I opted for the Space Gray 6. I also traded
in (or recycled, as they call it) my iPhone 5. They gave me $205 in
the form of an Apple Gift Card for it. Gazelle had offered me only
$195 if I had the phone unlocked; $170 if locked.

I have a friend who lives near Hilo, Hawai'i. She went to the Verizon
Store in Hilo about 6:45 am (9:45 am here in Phoenix), and was 12th in
line. The store opened at 8 am. By the time she was 8th in line, they
had sold out all of their 6 Plus models. She wound up buying a 128 GB
iPhone 6, and had finished hours before I was able to buy mine.

After I got my phone, I went to a restaurant to eat, and came home, and
went to bed; I had been up since 5 am Thursday morning, except for two
or three 5-10 minute cat naps Thursday evening.

--30--

 

On 2014.09.20, 02:35 , Michelle Steiner wrote:

--30--

Nice report. But, really. I can wait to try both and decide which.

I may drop in Monday (I'll be near the Apple store) and if they have the
largest memory version of what I want (6 or 6P) I'll get it then or wait
a month.

This whole "gotta have it now thing" is an illness. Really.

 

if they had sold their last one to the person right before me in the
line, my attitude would have been, "Such is life."

Oh here is an addendum to my report: I wore the tee shirt they gave me
(and lots of others) the day the store opened. Many of the blueshirts,
including the store manager, commented on it and gave me a thumbs up,
high five, etc. Their photographer took my picture, holding the phone
I bought in one hand and a thumbs up in the other. I'm going to ask
them to give me a copy of it.

 

So even though you had an order in hand, you were placed into the
"did not preorder" group?

This is the first I've heard about people being able to reserve a
time on the first day of a product sale. If that's the case, why did
anyone need to line up at the store? Did buyers realize that the store
might not pay attention to the reservations after all? That seems unfair.

So pretty much everyone was getting rid of their existing iPhone?
I guess that's what happens when people have cellphone contracts;
I don't, so I'm not up on the process.

Nice! Do you have plans for the gift card yet?

Patty

 

they've done that for a few years, but not everyone was able to buy
online. the apple store came up at around 6am eastern/3am pacific, some
three hours late. many people didn't bother staying up or gave up
trying.

why keep the previous one?

 

The "Preorder" group was only for those people who preordered and chose
to pick up at store instead of having it delivered to their home. When
I preordered, that option was not available.

The system, as I understand it, was to give those reservations to
people in the line so they could then leave the line and know what time
to return. You could not get a reserved time without being in the
line, nor could you choose the time to return.

Apparently, if the story I heard was accurate.

I used it to pay the sales tax on the phone. I opted for full price to
be paid over 20 (If I recall correctly) months, with the ability to
upgrade after 12, so I didn't have to pay anything for the phone up
front. I'm going to wait to see what they will reveal in October; if
it's a new Apple TV, I'll get that. I currently have a second
generation, and apparently that's no longer supported with OS upgrades.
If they don't have a new Apple TV, I'll probably use it for the next
model of iPad if that has something worth upgrading from my iPad Air.
Sans all that, I'll wait until there is something that grabs me.

-- Michelle

 

They can be handed off to other family members.


Patty

 

A friend of mine is keeping hers as a backup.

 

some people do that.

others choose to sell it, either via a trade-in (convenient) or sell it
on craigslist/ebay/etc. (more money).

 

To give it to one of the kids, sell it, etc etc etc.

 

Sometimes the human morass reminds me of so many amoeba (i? ae? s?)
Myself included.

 

As is true for most people. Keep in mind, Apple is going to sell
100,000,000 iPhones in the next 12 months, only 4,000,000 people
preorded and probably no more than that stood on line to buy them this
weekend. So, less than 10% of buyers.

They will be in short supply on the 6 Plus for a month, and on the 6 for
a week or three, but you might luck out.

I looked at them today. I dropped the iPhone 6 when I picked it up. It
bounced off the table edge and was dangling from the anti-theft device.
If I got one, I suppose I'd need a case as it is more slippery than my
case-less iPhone 5s (and my case-less iPhone 4S before it).

The 6 feels manageable, but bigger than I want. The 6 plus is just too
large. I can't see myself every having one of those unless I never
needed to leave the house.

It is silliness to you, but no one is forcing you. It is not silliness
to many other people.

The kids are disappointed as they were both expecting to inherent our
5Ss this year, but neither of us is thinking about upgrading. I might go
ahead and get them iPhone 5Ss of their own since Apple has left the 32GB
as an option and I would not consider buying any iOS device with less
than 32GB of storage.

 

She perordered her phone to be delivered sometime in October. She went
to try to picku a phone so she would have it before she left on her
trip.

Preorders lines are for in-store pickup preorders. I would have done
that, but the option was not available when I placed my order, so I had
to wait until 1700 when the UPS driver showed up.

time? No. The reservation system they've used for a few years lets you
tell them ahead of time which device you want and they give you a ticket
for that deice. This allows them to make sure they have stock on hand.

 

I vowed to never put my iPhone 4 in a case. That lasted 2 days. Hit
the brakes and the iPhone was on the passenger side floor in an instant.
Bought a dense hard rubber case - doesn't slip.

I have big hands. I'm not crazy about the iPad. The 6 Plus could be
the all rounder (yes - I'm aware of the pitfalls of compromise). Some
criteria:

- has to be comfortable in my hands

- has to be comfortable for a 10 minute phone conversation held
to the ear

- has to fit in my front pants pocket - including jeans - while
sitting. I have to be able to pull it out while sitting.

If the above fails, I'll fallback to the 6 - but I'll regret the less
capable camera.

I said "illness". And it is. It is completely irrational to stand on
line for hours to half a day to purchase a product that will be
available over the coming months (over a year) at exactly the same price.

 

Unless there's a valid reason to stand on line.

 

Depends on what "valid" means. You could live w/o the new phone and you
know it. You mention that you want the phone for a trip in mid-October.
Chances are very good that a store near you will have the phone you
want within a week or so if you had waited - or within the week before
you leave. And it wouldn't be the end of the world if it weren't.

 

Or, unless one simply wants to. I think it irrational to get uptight
about actions that aren't harmful to others.

 

Last year when I got my 5S, I had to call the store regularly to see if
there was an off chance they might have some 5s in stock. One day they
said they had a few left, hopped on my bime racing to the store and got
on. It took a number of weeks of trials before that day.

I have a feeling that it may in fact be safer to try to get it on day 1
because after that, stocks are erratic and stores only get a few
shipments on undisclosed days and it takes a while before stocks start
to flow regularly.

 

True, but if today is any example, who knows when there wouldn't be any
more lines?

The irrational ones are those who were in the line for days on end.

My point being that what is irrational is entirely subjective.

 

And took a chance that they might be sold out before you got there.

The store where I bought mine received a shipment at about noon or 1 PM
on the 19th; they would have run out at some point during the day had
it not arrived.