5S Quantities/Selection @ Launch Abysmal?

[snowtrooper1966]

Bad news for campers...

Just spoke to a Sprint rep I've dealt with last 3 launches. Always had good intel and a big help.

His txt from company phone:

"I would give you a number but to be honest our preorders (in store gift card 'reservation') have all of them taken. Bottom line... 0-5s's until at least Sat, maybe monday best case"

He called me a few minutes later on his personal device, said busiest corporate store in his district only had 15 5S's, all Space Grey, and they were already spoken for...

Keep in mind this was from one of the big carriers and the territory is a big metropolitan area.
Don't want to even guess what small town stores may be getting.

I would expect Apple stores to have a better selection, but bigger lines as well.

Good luck!

 

[bballrob]

My "small town" store has 50 each, all space gray, of the 16, 32 and 64 GB models.

 

[snowtrooper1966]

Take it for what it's worth.
I trust my source.
Just a myopic look at my area and one carrier's report....

 

[snowtrooper1966]

My "small town" store has 50 each, all space gray, of the 16, 32 and 64 GB models.

And how many of the gold one you want?

 

[bballrob]

And how many of the gold one you want?

I know. Pretty sad. I have inner demons fighting over which is more important -- launch day, or gold.

 

[snowtrooper1966]

I'd wait for gold...

 

[snowtrooper1966]

My "small town" store has 50 each, all space gray, of the 16, 32 and 64 GB models.

Do you have any relationship with the person that told you that?
Could just be feeding you a line to get you down to the store...

 

[Europa]

Meh. Sprint. Apple Stores are the way to go this year. I've heard carriers aren't getting much.

 

[bballrob]

Do you have any relationship with the person that told you that?
Could just be feeding you a line to get you down to the store...

I've dealt with this guy before. Last night when i stopped by the stire He told me that for the 5, they got a total of 4 dozen phones, and they would know better when the shipment arrived today. When I spoke to him tonight he said they were surprised they got so many.


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[Docd]

Apple store manage told me the the supply of white and gold is in limited supply. The gray is in a large supply. He didn't know what he had yet as their boxes are not labeled.

 

[diverdown]

Meh. Sprint. Apple Stores are the way to go this year. I've heard carriers aren't getting much.

You have a good point about the Apple stores. I spoke with a T-Mobile rep yesterday and was told that almost all TMO stores were doing a direct ship for the iPhone. Only two locations in Manhattan (14th and 34th streets) were getting physical phones. Not sure about Verizon or AT&T.

~S

 

[RBNetEngr]

Apple store manage told me the the supple of white and gold is in limited supple. The gray is in a large supply. He didn't know what he had yet as their boxes are not labeled.

My son works at an Apple store just outside of Washington DC (wealthy suburb) and he said they have 'hundreds' of space grey 5S, but only 10 gold phones. And, to satisfy DOA and other early failures they need to hold back a small percentage of phones.

If you want a gold 5S, on your carrier, and with the storage capacity you need, order it online and wait for it to arrive.


-rb

 

[iBanana]

I preorders my 5 from AT&T and was supposed to get it launch day...everything got screwed up, so I told them to cancel the preorder and I went to the Apple store at 6 pm and they had PLENTY of phones. Im sure the supply for the gold is much lower, but I would say Apple stores are the way to go vs carriers for black and silver.

 

[imutter]

Grr I am in the DC Baltimore area Howard county is one of the wealthy places too
and same story
At&T tighten up the upgrade override and no full price had to be on contract! So I ended up with a gray 32 GB on a new line no biggy I keep my Moto X anyway
I order a white and then give the gray to son.

 

[bballrob]

UPDATE: Again, I live in a small town in Alaska, but apparently Apple thinks quite highly of us.

I Left my office at 12:30 and went straight to the store that had started the day with 50 each of the Space Grey 5Ss -- 50 16GB, 50 32 GB, and 50 64 GB. There was a large screen with names on it, that was 7 deep. There were 3 customer service reps filling orders. I stood in line for about 5 minutes before a little lady with a clipboard came and started taking names to add to the big screen. She was asking people what they wanted too.

She confirmed that they had started the day with 50 of each gray phone. They still had about 40 each of the 32 GB and 64 GB phones, but only 1 16 GB phone, and it is spoken for. She said the wait was about 15 minutes for each person in front of you, which would man about 2 hours for me to wait now. She was pretty sure that they'd still have plenty this afternoon when I get off work at 5. And so, I continue to ponder in my mind going and using my daughter's upgrade to snag one of these temporarily, as long as I can return it within 14 days with no penalty and not jeopardize my daughter's upgrade, although I'm not too concerned about that as she has no intention of using it, and will probably be phoneless for a while next spring, so she doesn't want to get into a new contract at this point anyhow.

Now, here's the kicker. As I left the store, there was a Fed Ex truck. The driver was headed toward the door with a dolly stacked to the top with boxes. I decided to wander back and act like a gentleman to help him with the door. I aksed if those were iPhones. He said, "most likely."

So, I went back in the store and proceeded to talk to the lady with the clipboard again. I asked about the possibility of the shipment just arriving including any Gold or Silver phones. She said that there is no way. They were told only gold phones could be had at Apple stores, or by ordering online at this point.

The turmoil in my head continues as to whether I should attempt to secure a Grey phone temporarily.

I ordered the 32 GB Golden Phone from the Apple Store last night and have an early ship date, but still don't want to wait to experience the Glory of the iPhone 5S.

 

[bballrob]

This is the FedEx man delivering even MORE iPhones to my local store at about 12:30 PM today.


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