Filed under: Cult of Mac, Apple, iPhone
Buying a new iPhone, Tucson style
Of course, like many people, I just had to have a 3G S, so my old 3G phone is off to NextWorth. I got to my local Apple Store (La Encantata Mall) about 6:30 AM, and there were about 30-35 people in line. There were 2 lines actually, one for people who reserved an iPhone, and one for those that had just come to buy. The lines were certainly shorter than with the 3G roll out. This mall is not enclosed, but the iPhone gods smiled upon us and gave us a cool morning in the 70's. Not our usual Arizona broil.Line dynamics are interesting. iPhone owners were telling the newbies how much they'll love their new purchase. Experienced iPhone owners were trading tips with less experienced users, and I even saw one guy checking TUAW for the latest news. Nice.
One thing I noticed was that a lot of the people in line had BlackBerry or other brands of cell phones. My recollection of the last upgrade was that most people getting the 3G were replacing generation 1 phones. That's anecdotal, but that's what I saw.
One guy in line told me he worked at a hospital and that he wasn't allowed to get an iPhone until it had remote wipe. Now, his IT guys have blessed the purchase.
Read on...
The store opened at 7, and a few people were let in. I was 12 people back in the 'reserved' line, and it took an hour to actually get in the store and start the purchase. That seemed rather slow. An Apple Store employee told me there were a few glitches with computers, but he didn't say if it was Apple or AT&T. I loved the old days where they just handed you a box and you went home to get it registered.
I observed that the 'reserved' line didn't move any faster than the line for people who just showed up. I asked one of the Apple guys if I was guaranteed a phone if I reserved, even if I had come in late in the day? He said that was absolutely true, even though the email I was sent told me phones were on a first come- first served basis. Every person I asked at the Apple store gave me a different answer about this policy, so I wouldn't trust the reserved status.
Upon activation my old iPhone immediately lost any AT&T connection, and it took about 30 minutes for the new iPhone to activate. As I sat staring at the new phone with no connection to the outside world I finally put it in airplane mode and then back online. It then immediately registered with AT&T, so maybe that tip will help you if things get slow. Or maybe it was a coincidence.
Others here at TUAW will review the new phone in detail, and others will share their buying experience. It seems faster, and with 32GB of storage I've got a lot more room for my music and any videos I may shoot.
It wasn't a bad experience this time around, but it did take longer than I expected. I wonder if I could have just walked in later in the day, because most of my time was spent waiting in line after the store actually opened because the early arrivals were pretty backed up. I really dislike waiting in line, but I would have hated not getting the phone today, so I just had to choose between two evils. I do think Apple has a winner with this iteration of the iPhone. Sales figures will be extremely interesting to watch.
Happy Shopping.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
macthegoalie31 said 3:21PM on 6-19-2009
It was a lot shorter for us than the 3G activation last year. We had two lines also, and I was told initially that they would be separately served, but after about a half hour in line some employees told us they were strictly serving the "reserved" line and the rest of us would have to wait until 10 am to start moving (with a 70/30 reserved/walk-in radio). I had heard that was only going to happen at the AT&T stores.
We had arrived just before 7, and there were a little over 30+ in each line. Surprisingly, the reserved line went down pretty fast and by 9-ish our line was starting to move. Of course "reserved" people were always trickling in and got to cut in front of the rest of us, but we got into the store a little before 10 am PST and were only in there for about 20 minutes.
As far as activation, we were told it would be about a 10 minute wait. After about 20 minutes, I decided to turn the phone on and off, then an alert told me it was activated. Mostly, it was a wholly painless affair
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colin said 3:27PM on 6-19-2009
At Emeryville's store, two lines, total a couple of hundreds of people at least, with the employees letting in 7 from the reserved line for every 3 in the half-as-long unreserved line. I had to wait 3 hours for mine (unreserved), and the employee told me the reserved people were waiting an average of 2.5 hours.
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macthegoalie31 said 3:35PM on 6-19-2009
Did you guys get the 70/30 right from the beginning? They made us wait!!
colin said 3:42PM on 6-19-2009
i'm not sure it happened right away with us, since between 8-9am the unreserved line barely moved. one of the earlier customers came out and told us about the 7-3 ratio, but we may have been in the same boat as people at your store.
Charles M. said 3:31PM on 6-19-2009
Ha! I was probably the one reading TUAW. I was probably 6 or 7th in the non-reserved line. (Nerdy guy wearing a "Not PC" shirt)
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Matthieu said 4:18PM on 6-19-2009
I saw a great deal of BlackBerry users in my line today, near London.
I can't compare this to the 3G launch, I wasn't queuing, but there certainly were a lot of those berries today...
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Drew said 3:52PM on 6-19-2009
I walked into the AT&T store...no reservation...and got mine and my wife's 3GS's and was out the door in 30 minutes.
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Stephen H said 4:21PM on 6-19-2009
I got to my local AT&T store at 6:50am, with no reservation in hand. There were two people in front of me. Two more people turned up with reservations, and maybe 5 without. They let me in at 7:25am to buy my 32 Gb Black GS (I have a white 3G that's going to my wife, so I need to be able to tell them apart!). By 7:35 I was done, and on my way to work.
Kudos to some smart and considerate AT&T folk for getting us out of there early. They were polite, friendly, and I hope they did good business today.
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DrWho said 4:29PM on 6-19-2009
Airplane mode and back seemed to nudge mine into action too
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MakoSama said 4:30PM on 6-19-2009
Wow! I was surprised to see this story in my RSS reader! I was at La Encantada as well this morning. I didnt know a tuaw writer was this close to home! I arrived there at around 6:20 and was waiting in the "normal people" line. I barely did my pre-authorization yesterday afternoon, but as you saw, there was not a large turnout so it wasnt an issue :D My iPhone switched over within 5 minutes or so, and I am so satisfied with it! I upgraded from the very first generation, purchased on day 1 at that very same Apple Store. A thumbs up from a fellow Tucsonian!
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peerg101 said 6:34PM on 6-19-2009
Are you sure you're from Tucson? Try "Tucsonan". And my guess why it was slow at La Encantada? This city's lazy attitude towards pretty much everything - but especially customer service.
Macopotamus said 4:43PM on 6-19-2009
iPhone gods? No sign of them in NC; I was four hours in 90 degree heat! Credit to Apple though, they had a large supply of popsicles. :-)
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MfS said 4:54PM on 6-19-2009
I was shocked to see that there were barely 20 or so people in line when I arrived at the Orland Square Mall Apple Store at 7:01am.
No big deal, though. I was let in around 7:35am, and was done at 7:45am. Swapped SIM cards from my 3G to the new 3GS; powered on the 3GS, INSTANT activation. No worries. Called AT&T, canceled the data plan on the line I used to get the subsidy, and we're back to normal.
Being indoors sure beats the 1.5 hours I stood in line outside downtown Chicago last year (in the 88°F heat).
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fishbert said 5:00PM on 6-19-2009
I got to La Encantada around 9am, and the end of the line was right about where the picture was taken. Still took about 45-60 minutes to get in the store (priority reservation line). I was wishing I got there earlier, though, as it had gone from cool to warm and muggy by then. There was a draft of wonderful AC seeping from the seams in the glass front to the La Encantada Concierge office... I stayed with my back to that until I felt guilty for holding up the line.
I remember launch day 2 years ago the line was at least three times as long, but it moved much quicker. My fingers are crossed that Apple will eventually return to the "buy box in store, settle contract and activation at home" sales model.
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TGunz said 5:00PM on 6-19-2009
there's a line at the apple store here in new orleans right now.
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Rick said 5:47PM on 6-19-2009
Of course the lines were shorter this year, YOU ORDER ONLINE FROM 2 DIFFERENT WEBSITES!!!
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tommy k said 8:26PM on 6-20-2009
In and out in 10 min. In Cincinnati! Just picked up my new 3Gs 32 gig for $299 selling my 3G 16 gig unlocked on ebay for $450.00. I like this math!
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axel.golden said 6:06PM on 6-19-2009
i live in tucson too! but im stickin with the 3g for now.
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Todd Hudson said 6:24PM on 6-19-2009
You are an unprecedented douche.
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Brian Charous said 3:45PM on 6-20-2009
I only had to wait in the reserved line for 20-30 minutes, and I got to the store at around 7:45. The process seemed efficient, even though I insisted by paying with cash. I was out the door 15 minutes after I walked in with my new phone activated, a case, and screen protectors.
I can't compare it to the 3G launch because I wasn't there. Also, my Apple store is in an enclosed mall, so its not like the big downtown stores.
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