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mediahound · Jun 25, 2007, 12:54 PM

I'm confused about where to go to get an iPhone on Friday.

I'm in San Francisco and can leave work at 3pm. It seems I have 3 choices:

I can goto either an Apple Store or AT&T Store, or, go home and try to logon to Apple's online store at 6pm.

What would be my best option? It seems like it might be more fun to line up at the Apple store but where are my best chances of actually being able to purchase an iPhone?

icruise · Jun 25, 2007, 01:48 PM

Nobody knows the answer to those questions. My gut feeling is that most if not all iPhones ordered online are going to take a while to ship, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they got backordered. As for brick-and-mortar stores, I think that the AT&T stores may actually be the better bet, since the Apples stores seem to be the obvious place to go and will probably be more crowded.

mediahound · Jun 25, 2007, 01:56 PM

Yeah, that makes sense. And there are a lot more AT&T stores than Apple stores, so the crowds will probably less at AT&T stores (more distributed)...

Mrjinglesusa · Jun 25, 2007, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by mediahound

Yeah, that makes sense. And there are a lot more AT&T stores than Apple stores, so the crowds will probably less at AT&T stores (more distributed)...

Make sure you go to an AT&T **Owned** store and not an AT&T (Cingular) "Authorized Agent" store. From my understanding, those "Authorized Agent" stores won't be getting iPhones at launch.

Nodnarb · Jun 25, 2007, 02:39 PM

Ok, so I typed in my zipcode into the AT&T store locator.

Am I looking for:

"Cingular Wireless" or "Cingular Wireless Authorized Retailer"

I believe it's the former, as the post above me said, but I'm wondering since they all still say Cingular, are none of these corporate owned? I thought corporate moved to AT&T and franchises still say cingular?

GSixZero · Jun 25, 2007, 02:46 PM

It's the ones that say "Cingular Wireless". Then call them up and ask if they'll have the iPhone on Friday, I'm sure they'll know at this point.

icruise · Jun 25, 2007, 02:46 PM

Yes, you want a corporate AT&T store, which would just say "Cingular Wireless" I believe. Only 1 out of 3 stores in my area are actually carrying the iPhone. Call ahead to make sure.

DigitalEl · Jun 25, 2007, 02:49 PM

The first option is theone you want.

"Authorized Retailers" are what you want to stay away from.

Good luck.

Eriamjh · Jun 25, 2007, 08:47 PM

You won't be able to get one online for a few days or weeks after launch.

ghporter · Jun 25, 2007, 08:53 PM

I spoke with a sales person at a local Cingular store this afternoon. She told me a number of interesting things about the iPhone. First, AT&T intends to sell the iPhone (at first anyway) ONLY through AT&T branded stores; those that haven't yet changed their signage and such are probably not going to be able to sell you an iPhone at all. Second, the plan is for the iPhone to be sold only with a new account or an upgrade to an existing account (read that "commitment"). Finally, she said it was her understanding that all the iPhones destined for local stores were spoken for, and that there was a waiting list (I'm not sure if this is store-by-store, area-wide, or national).

If you haven't already done something serious about getting an iPhone, you're in for quite a wait.

This should be interesting to watch-I thought the mad rush for the new Intel Macs was a circus, but this should be much more entertaining!

icruise · Jun 25, 2007, 09:05 PM

I think she's full of it. Everything I've read says that iPhone will be sold on a first come first served basis, and that waiting lists are not allowed. And I certainly hope the bit about the signage isn't true. The only corporate AT&T store in town -- and the only place carrying the iPhone -- still has a Cingular sign. They seemed to think they would be getting iPhones. I wouldn't be surprised if the woman you talked to was confusing the sign issue with that of "corporate" and "authorized" retailers.

Second, the plan is for the iPhone to be sold only with a new account or an upgrade to an existing account (read that "commitment").

What other options are there? Or do you mean that current AT&T customers not eligible for a hardware upgrade won't be able to get one? I did read something that implied that today.

::maroma:: · Jun 25, 2007, 09:17 PM

I call BS on that sales person's comments as well.

First, I find it very hard to believe that AT&T would lose out on that many iPhone sales simply because a store has yet to change their signage. That's just ridiculous.

Second, if people line up at AT&T stores across the nation only to find out that every single one has "already been spoken for" there will be Hell to pay. No way would AT&T pull that kind of move. And Apple wouldn't allow it either. No way.

That woman is either knowingly feeding you a load of bull, or she's just clueless.

xi_hyperon · Jun 25, 2007, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by icruise

What other options are there? Or do you mean that current AT&T customers not eligible for a hardware upgrade won't be able to get one? I did read something that implied that today.

How does one find out if one's eligible for a hardware upgrade?

icruise · Jun 25, 2007, 09:55 PM

I believe it depends on how long you've had your account. I think you may have to be in your second year, but I don't know the details. Still, it seems pretty dumb of AT&T to piss off their own customers this way, so I'm not sure that I buy that they won't let people get an iPhone unless they're eligible for an upgrade. After all, we're paying for the phone in full (supposedly).

DigitalEl · Jun 25, 2007, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by icruise

The only corporate AT&T store in town -- and the only place carrying the iPhone -- still has a Cingular sign.

The only AT&T store near me was still branded Cingular on Sunday evening. On Monday evening, they had a canvas "AT&T" banner over the lighted Cingular sign. The store was still all orange on the inside, but the employees were in blue AT&T uniforms.

The dual earringed, 20-year-old sales kid I talked to said they've been getting lots of calls and drop-ins. He said he expects about 100 phones and expects them to be sold within the first hour or so. He said every worker currently employed at that store will be working between 6 and 10 and that three will be assigned to the outside of the store, just for line management. He also claimed accessories (cases, not the Bluetooth thingy) are already on-site and will be out Friday night. Nothing really credible there, but another voice to add to the cacophony of pre iPhone noise.

ghporter · Jun 26, 2007, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by icruise

I believe it depends on how long you've had your account. I think you may have to be in your second year, but I don't know the details. Still, it seems pretty dumb of AT&T to piss off their own customers this way, so I'm not sure that I buy that they won't let people get an iPhone unless they're eligible for an upgrade. After all, we're paying for the phone in full (supposedly).

I think you nailed it; at least half-way into a two year commitment before you're eligible for a hardware upgrade is what we were told back when we got RAZRs for the whole family. That seems to be a standard Cingular thing.

Cingular has a nice track record of being "pretty dumb" and pissing off their customers. We were AT&T Wireless customers BEFORE Cingular bought them out, and Cingular never did match the plans and rates we had with the old AT&T-the saving grace was introducing the Family Plan system. I see very little other than logos that has changed about them in the interim.

AT&T's in-person customer service is great, we get great service from the network, and their coverage areas are the best of all our options in the places we go, but their corporate policies tend to be on the low end of the IQ scale. Maybe, with the SBC folks fully in charge, that might change eventually (a lot of the old Cingular stuff had a serious smell of "Bell South" policies to it).