Best Buy stops iPhone 4 pre-orders

i pre-ordered mine from best buy on tuesday. there was no one there aside from my buddy and me, and we were numbers 4 and 5 on the list. got my $50 gift card, and dude told us that if we decided not to get the phone, they'd reimburse our gift cards. thought that was pretty cool.

but yeah, my appointment is for 11 am on thursday, but i'll be there when they open - just in case things go ridiculously smoothly and they get ahead of schedule (psh - yeah. lol).

I ordered mine on Wednesday through Best Buy. It seemed as though I was one of very few to walk in and ask about the iPhone. There was a guy harassing the clerk about the Evo when I got there... They seemed extremely confident that I would have mine on launch day. I'm happy they stopped pre-orders so that it won't be a total circus, although I'm sure there will be many ignorant people unaware of the demand.

After trying all day to pre-order via Apple's website, I gave up. (Really ppl, is it THAT important to get ur phone that day --okay, yes, sorta. But is it worth sitting by your computer all day trying to get past the first few screens? No.)

So, after work I sauntered over to my Best Buy (around 7pm) and finished the pre-order in 5 minutes. Will I be the first to get the phone on the 24th, probably not, but the ease at pre-ordering the first day was a simple pleasure I am enjoying during this official Pre-Order Week.

Don't forget Radio Shack was in the mix too. I don't know that they ever had any stores successfully submit ANY pre-orders. My local Shack is saying that they have a paper list, and will call folks to tell them when their phone comes in. I'm number 7 on that list . . . of course, I'm waiting for the white 32 Gb, so it may be quite some time before I get that call. If I see a pre-order come up on Apple, I'm not staying with Shack (although the rebate sounded good).

I'm starting to get a little bit nervous. I had a iphone 2g and 3gs on launch day. I don't think I'll be getting a 4 on launch day, I just want one by the end of July.

Is the best bet looking like going to an Apple store eventually?

Oh I can see another delay to us Canadians waiting to order. Grrrr.

Is the 600k worldwide or just usa ?

I'm number 49 at my local store. I hope they are letting us come in when they open as I have to be to work at 10am and I go directly to the airport after that.

I got mine through Apple, girlfriend got hers through BestBuy.

Apparently, they're not doing the whole "stand in line on the 24th and storm the door", thing. Now you put $50 down (they put it on a giftcard), and you get a preorder ticket that has your information on it. BestBuy will then call you a few days before the 24th, to arrange a personal appointment time for you to come in and get your iPhone set up.

Pretty smart on BestBuy's part to implement this. Because if someone ends up NOT wanting their pre-order, BestBuy still makes money due to that $50 gift card. Let's just hope this new appointment system gets executed properly.