Apple drops the ball on Aussie iPhone 4S pre-orders

It's Monday the 17th, 10 days after I preordered and my iPhone still has not reached the East Coast. It is showing Delayed out of HK. And I'm in Perth. So I could have another week or 10 days to wait once it arrives in Sydney. This is my last Pre-order. I'll have it in hand next time before I lay out the cash. (Not that I have been charged yet.) It's mainly watching all me mates with their 4S and I ordered 7 days before them and they got one already from local purchase.

Well as an update to this article - a lot of Aussies are getting their pre-ordered iPhones (from Apple) delivered by courier today (Sunday!), in all states (from QLD over to WA), so either Apple felt guilty about this or someone brought some pressure on the supply chain to get stuff moving. I'm quite impressed given that for a lot of these iPhones, they actually only turned up In Australia yesterday (Saturday) and somehow they've been expedited through customs, TNT and gotten onto delivery trucks across a landmass the same size as USA!!

Well done Apple and TNT!!

I had a delivery attempt for my preordered iPhone 4s by TNT this morning @8.45 (16/10/11) but wasn't home so its FALSE that apple preorders have been delayed by 1-2 weeks

Aaaaand another comment disappears. Either I've hit a nerve, or the comment system is pretty badly flawed. Bothe are likely.

Pre-ordered from Canada before 2 am Pacific and AppleCanada decided to send it via Fedex a day late and with a method that UPS says is unsupported for my address [which is a regular single residence]. It finally made it through customs tonight. I suppose they MIGHT try a Saturday delivery, but UPS is only slightly better than Purolator here, so they might do a drive by on Monday [as in, they drive by, and if you aren't standing on the curb for them to throw the package to, you have to go to the depot on the other side of the city to pick it up].

@ John John, your points are valid, yet the fact remains, Australians are sent to the back of the line regarding pre-orders. If they can have the Apple stores here, and telcos too, full of stock before the friday, then why could those ordering a week prior not have received them yesterday too? Got an answer for that one mate? Logic says that Australians pre ordering were snubbed, simple as that. It's nothing personal of course, but it is still quite pathetic that they would want to do this. Maybe Apple thinks Australians are so laid back they won't care? Not anymore we are not, we want to be respected as valid customers and be treated as such. A few days is not the end of the world, but it's the principle that matters, as always. BTW, I got mine fairly easily yesterday, but still don't feel right that those who pre ordered straight away, are still waiting while millions of others are already using it.

2-3 business days - typo below

1. Your claim of Apple not making it clear is false. On every step of the ordering process it said SHIPS BY 14th Oct. NOT Delivers By.

2. It is not being delayed 1 - 2 weeks later. Most people that got in on the preorders have a delivery date of October 18th or 19th. This is merely 2-33 business days later.

3. Australians paying "much" more for Apple gear is also false. In fact, we're paying less for outright iPhones than UK, and we are able to get all model iPhones on $0 on 24 month contracts that are far far less of a monthly service fee than our US friends. An iPhone 4S in the USA is a minimum of around $1900 over 24 months. The minimum to obtain an iPhone 4S in Australia is $1320 over 24 months.

You really need to stop and think and work out the figures before posting silly rants.

Mine gets delivered between the tuesday-friday next week.. so disappointed that i preordered. i dont have the money to walk into a shop and buy one now that Apple took my money already

I did an Optus preorder which hasn't come through yet, but I was at the shops last night around 7pm, walked into an Optus store, waited 20 minutes and walked out with an iPhone 4S. There was plenty of stock, just not put aside for the people who had pre-ordered. I guess it maximises their business; they know pre-orders are going to buy anyway and this way they get impulse buyers too. I wonder how long it will take to get my phone call?