“For some of Apple’s faithful clients, the joy was being sucked out of a big day — that is, the first opportunity to order the $999 iPhone X,” Barbara Kollmeyer reports for MarketWatch. “The hashtag #iPhone X was top-trending on Twitter early Friday, but complaints piled up from fans trying to pre-order the new smartphone. Some of the frustration was aimed at Apple directly, while others felt thwarted while trying to pre-order via web sites for carriers such as T-Mobile [and] Verizon.”
“Preorders for the iPhone X were scheduled to begin at 3:01 a.m. Eastern Time on the company’s website and via the Apple Store app in more than 55 countries and territories, for delivery of the handset at the end of next week,” Kollmeyer reports. “But within minutes of managing to place an order, people were being told that their iPhone X wouldn’t arrive for two to three weeks (or more) — a sign that initial supplies had already been snapped up.”
“Compounding the frustration, there seemed to be a lag in Apple’s online store and app, with reports that it lasted about 10 minutes. That may have cost some eager buyers an earlier delivery date,” Kollmeyer reports. “iPhone lovers reluctant to deal with a delivery delay could take a chance on getting the top-end model by walking into an Apple Store and buying direct on Friday, Nov. 3. It’s scheduled to go on sale at 8 a.m. local times — but note that Apple advises arriving early.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Our orders all went through for Day One (Nov. 3) delivery, but we used the most reliable method: Apple’s own Apple Store app, on our iPhones and iPads, with our devices (256GB Space Gray iPhone X units) saved as our favorites. The app allowed us to begin the order process at 12:02 am PDT and we were finished with all orders within minutes, by 12:05 am PDT for the last one.
Additionally, we’re not sure if this expedited anything, but all of our units were purchased at full price (Unlocked iPhone with Verizon SIM), not on a monthly payment plan.
SEE ALSO:
iPhone X sells out within minutes overnight; delivery dates slip into December – October 27, 2017
Apple’s stock surges in premarket trading after iPhone X sells out within minutes – October 27, 2017
iPhone X delivery dates slip minutes after preorders begin – October 27, 2017
Are these shocked buyers all #New to Apple and iPhone????
Exactly. You’d think this is all new or something. They never make enough, they always sell out quickly, the ship date slips rapidly into the next millennium, people are frustrated. Rinse repeat.
Indeed. It’s going to bigger than the iPhone6 / 6 Plus release.
The Apple Store was a shit show for at least 10 minutes
And anecdotally it seems that the east coast was the recipient of most of the 💩
And this surprises who?! When the CEO is one of the best supply chain managers in the world and Apple is ALWAYS ready for a huge run on product, this should be but a small delay.
How much space does it take to store, say 80 million iPhones? How much would it cost to create an inventory of that size, and mantain it for a few months? If you think Apple hasn’t taken all that into account, you’re naive or something.
so you also believe BMW et al should hold back sales until inventory build up over 3-4 months before releasing to customers?
You are the naive one, I am afraid. The scenario that you postulate is ridiculous, and it has been thoroughly debunked on this forum in the past.
Even *if* it were possible, why would Apple delay a product rollout for months in order to stockpile tens of millions of units? That would be an utterly foolish approach from a business standpoint.
Think, Sparkles. Think.
The richest, most successful company of all time can do anything they want if they had a competent CEO. to pull it off. Supply chain genius, my arse.
Delay release by months, why not? An 18-month upgrade cycle is fine with me. Where is it written in stone it has to happen yearly along with buggy Mac OS and iOS releases, hmmm?
I’d rather wait a few months longer to plan my purchase and look forward to satisfaction on day one, rather than the ridiculous drill of getting up at three in the morning and fighting through the HYPED feeding frenzy …
Think, Melvin, THINK …
Sorry to say for I don’t know how many times — the problem is all on supply chain genius Tim Cook.
Time after time ABSENT healthy inventory levels at launch.
Surely, the 10th Anniversary iPhone with the first edge to almost edge screen with cutting edge tech, that will surely sell gazillions, and STILL low inventory at launch? Unreal …
you don’t know what you don’t know, sandbox comment
I don’t have to be a chicken to know when an egg is rotten … 🕊🍳
GoeB, you consistently post drivel on this forum. Apple is not punching out injection-molded toys for McDonalds. It takes time to ramp up production and increase yields while also sourcing parts from all over.
I would hire Tim Cook any day. I doubt that I would hire you to sweep the floor.
Sir KingMel….it’s like you’re speaking to one of your subjects. Must be windy sitting on the throne so high above all others.
He’s not my King …
Ahhhhh, what’s the matter baaaaby, not feeling well today? Get some sleep sweetheart, things will look a lot brighter in the morning …
It was not the most reliable method for this Canadian user. Apple borked the contact between Apple ID and the app accounts. They are still borked. I couldn’t order an iPhone now if I wanted to. I HAVE to use the web store. The app shows U.S. carriers to Canadian users. 🙁
And, no, I’ve been Apple ß tester for a decade. This was the worst clusterfsck of a launch I’ve seen, and the iOS app borking of my account information at 11:08 this morning means that there’s a lot more going on with this failure of a launch. My purchase of the original Watch over two years ago took all of 20 seconds. This is a major faceplant by Apple.
Moments after 0304 hrs DST today using Apple Canada store, ordered unlocked X iPhone Space Gray 256GB including Apple Care, cost CAD$ 2009.14 delivery 2 – 3 weeks. Apparently, minutes/seconds mattered….!
2 effing thousand dollars. Wow. And here I am balking at $799 from Rogers on a plan.
Hope its awesome !
At 5am – Rogers still hadn’t gone live – it still was set on “Register” but the really interesting thing is, it said $599 on a 2 year plan. But later this morning, that amount went up by $200.00
Which should surprise no one who is familiar with Rogers.
What makes you think your experience is representative of the experience of say 20-4o million other buyers? My Apple Store came on line at about 12:30 and I have my order completed without a hitch in about 30 seconds.
Ooops. My Apple Store came on line at about 12:03.
sour grapes, no facts
Clearly the notch has turned everyone off then.
It’s like the spaceships arriving in Independence Day. Behold the supercycle.
Not sure I would call the Apple Store App the most reliable method. By the time the app was back online delivery was 2-3 weeks. Glad I used my carrier’s app though 🙂
Good for you. I’m sooo glad you got your orders processed correctly and quickly. Bragging that your orders were processed without incident while the rest of us got screwed is rather insensitive. I think your story wouldn’t be as insulting if you left out your own experience and just reported on how others like myself were not nearly so successful.
Please regale us further on your bitter and sordid personal experiences living the life of a loser? How about flipping your sour attitude and being happy for those who were successful Ebenezer? I would be happy for you and not a Grouchy Gus about it. Sheesh!
Talk about an insensitive post, Fesarius!
Insulting, condescending and where you went way out of line was calling macmuchmore SIMPLE disappointment a “bitter loser, Ebenezer and Grouchy Gus!” A new low for you.
Your lack of empathy is stunning! Hope you never have kids … 🤔
You’re a little too sensitive, but I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Guessing at the end of the day most others will be dissatisfied, as well.
I wouldn’t take it to heart what Fsourias posted. Just one of many junevile fanboy hit and run INSULT ARTISTS around here. Means absolutely, NOTHING …
If you’re this upset over delays in buying a smartphone I’d hate to see your reaction when something truly bad happens.
Since I didn’t know what to expect or know how quick it would be for my pre-approved Apple monthly plan order I was a bit concerned when minutes went by and no Apple App action here in Los Angeles until it suddenly burst into life about 12:06am. Took me less than 30 seconds to complete my order and I probably barely got that coveted Nov. 3rd delivery date in time.
Seems odd too when I went in on the first day of pre-approval for pre-orders a few days ago I didn’t see the mechanism in place to do that so I ended up doing it last night before the pre-order event. I really want to know EXACTLY what I should expect from pre-approval and then what happens once the preordering takes place so the process goes more smoothly or with less stress, and I didn’t get that from this experience. Add on top of that no sign of Apple Store App life for the first 5-6 minutes (not even a hint of when it would come out of it’s slumber) and not knowing whether to quit and refresh the app was a little maddening.
Funny how MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people all over the world converging on Apple all at once over a 10-20 minute period expect a perfect online experience. I am sure though Apple can still learn a few things to do better from this.
Maybe because I’m in the upgrade program, and did the whole pre-qualification Apple sent me to do a few days ago, but I felt like this morning went WAY more smoothly for me than in recent years. I vaguely recall years back (6 launch?) not being able to get the store to load for at least an hour after it went live.
I also experienced a ten-minute lag/ delay using the Apple Store app. My space 256GB Space Gray X will arrive “Nov. 13 to 20”. (Ordered from and shipping to Taiwan, by the way.)
I don’t know if my experience was better or worse than other people’s, but it took almost an hour of loading and reloading, loading and reloading in the apple app before it connected and got it done. By then I had five phones ordered, and had to delete four of them. That might mean that impatience clogged up my ordering process, but I don’t know.
I was also on hold with Verizon, and a sales gal answered about then too, so I went ahead and ordered one from them. Apple’s ship date is December 5-11, while Verizon’s is December 1. My history with these things is that it’s usually sooner than that. I hope so. I’ll cancel whichever ships latest.
My year for my 7+ isn’t up until the beginning of December but I tried for the pre-order anyway. Randomly woke up on my own at 2:00 A.M. CDT and the store wasn’t working. I did some other work while waiting and finally got my order in around 2:40. The dates were pushed out by then to the beginning of December, as expected. As long as I have it by Christmas I’m fine.
I tried ordering from the Apple store app but it wasn’t working so I went to the website directly and ordered. I got a space gray 256gb model. 2-3 weeks expected delivery time.
I was watching the Macworld live twitter feed, and it appeared that T-Mobile’s website went live 3 mins before 12:01pt, and people were ordering. Verizon went live at 12:01pt, and from the stream it took about 5 to 10 mins before people were getting in to the AppleStore app or on Safari.
I was refreshing Safari and the app, constantly, but since I’m on Verizon, I also went thru the checkout process on Verizon before my app showed anything. So, rather than buying thru the Apple PUP plan, I got it on Verizon. I’ll get AppleCare later.
I got mine on the 11/03 delivery date. I ordered or at least tried midnight, order completed at 12:09, well Apple stated the could not connect with my provider so one was on hold but received an email 02:45 saying I was good to go, finished up the process this morning. A friend waited until 7:00 this morning his ship date is Dec 3-18.
Should have gotten the 8 and waited until next year for Apple to get rid of that stupid notch!