Went to the Crabtree store at 10:00 this morning and got a 16gb black, there were 3 people already in line when I got there and another about 10-12 behind me by the time it got around to being my turn to buy my phone 45 minutes later.....that whole process for buying a phone at the apple store is ridiculous

7/29/2008 6:56:52 PM

yeah i might take off work a little early and head out there tomorrow, haven't decided yet

7/29/2008 6:58:13 PM

^^I can only speak for the two Apple stores here in Seattle, but both places there was seriously zero pressure to add-on to the phone purchase.

The scene I saw there was employees taking considerable amounts of time with each person introducing them to the phone, showing them all the interactions and features and answering questions about services, plans and general usage. The closest I saw to an "upsell" was them giving away free cases to people who had to wait more than a few minutes to talk to someone once they were let into the store.

7/29/2008 6:59:28 PM

It wasn't the pressure to purchase add-ons I'm talking about, they asked me if I was interested in any accessories and gave me the whole mobile-me pitch but a simple no thanks sufficed in both cases. It was the fact that it took 20 minutes of scanning various barcodes, typing in information, then buying a gift card and using the gift card to purchase the iphone in order to pay cash, then another 10 minutes of typing stuff in and various verifications, then hooking my phone up to one of their computers with itunes.........in all it took about an hour and a half to go in and buy a phone.

7/29/2008 7:10:05 PM

jesus that is ridiculous.

7/29/2008 7:45:34 PM

Actually that's pretty much par for the course with a locked phone.

Welcome to America and our world of carriers.

7/29/2008 8:10:43 PM

Quote :

"EDIT: And no, they don't have my money. I don't get charged til the iPhone 3G ships, and if I get pissed, I walk out of this contract within 30 days. So that's no excuse -- apple just prefers you walk into their store and buy a Mac while you're at it."

well actually they kind of do. They know you reserved a phone so you don't have to deal with lines...so chances are you aren't going to go deal with lines.


all in all it took 20 minutes today. From me flagging a salesperson to walking out the door. There was literally nobody over at the iphone section helping customers and maybe 2 or 3 other people just playing around with the phones.


mobile me is awesome...I've had .mac for a few years now and mobile me is a huge improvement not to mention the free upgrade to more storage is nice. I wouldn't recommend mobile me though to someone else that didn't have all Mac computers at home/work. Its not worth it just for the phone.

[Edited on July 29, 2008 at 8:30 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/29/2008 8:29:35 PM

Quote :

".........in all it took about an hour and a half to go in and buy a phone."

Took me 25 minutes in an AT&T store.... because I had an idiot for a CSR who had never ported a number from a different area code, had never ported a number from Verizon, the printer was out of paper in the store and he had to look up the rate plans for me.

Still went pretty quick. It probably took you so damn long because you wanted to pay cash. Apple stores run on those little portable card swipers.

7/29/2008 9:07:42 PM

Mine arrived at the AT&T store today, went and picked it up at lunch. This thing is pretty freakin awesome. I wish I could figure out a good way to get my contacts moved from my old LG Chocolate now. I managed to get them saved as both vCards and a CSV but I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm trying http://www.nuevasync.com right now but it doesn't seem to be syncing.

7/29/2008 9:13:51 PM

I'm going to try and buy one next week in Japan. I hope there are some available

7/29/2008 9:30:11 PM

Quote :

"Apple stores run on those little portable card swipers."

yup. cash is so old school.

7/30/2008 12:24:58 AM

fuck the iphone this is the 3rd time its deleted all my numbers. wish it would fucking blow up

7/30/2008 1:09:33 AM

Little proof that these things are shipping out of order...

The iPhone 3G that I ordered 2nd has shipped, my 1st one has not. Guess this one's going to the wife

7/30/2008 8:01:48 AM

Quote :

"fuck the iphone this is the 3rd time its deleted all my numbers. wish it would fucking blow up "

perhaps you should back your phone up?

7/30/2008 8:08:23 AM

r

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 9:16 AM. Reason : s]

7/30/2008 9:13:36 AM

TJ:

I bought a program for $20 that takes a multiple entry, single file vcard, and imports it into Outlook to be sync'd. do a search on vCard Wizard. Well worth it since I had a ton of contacts.

7/30/2008 10:11:00 AM

Links to RSS feeds of new apps on the appstore (very helpful)

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/07/17/pinch-medias-appstore-rss-feeds-are-more-than-useful-for-iphoneipod-touch-owners.html

7/30/2008 4:08:37 PM

Quote :

"fuck the iphone this is the 3rd time its deleted all my numbers. wish it would fucking blow up"

are you fucking retarded? I can't imagine how your iphone any phone can delete your numbers once let alone 3 times unless you are mentally challenged.

[Edited on July 30, 2008 at 4:27 PM. Reason : fixed]

7/30/2008 4:26:47 PM

Update, both of my 3Gs shipped today -- probably can't pick 'em up til Friday tho, argh!

7/30/2008 4:51:02 PM

^

at least backorder != 1 anymore

7/30/2008 4:57:30 PM

Quote :

"I bought a program for $20 that takes a multiple entry, single file vcard, and imports it into Outlook to be sync'd. do a search on vCard Wizard. Well worth it since I had a ton of contacts."

Thanks, I eventually got that neuvasync page to work. I guess it only syncs every so often and I was getting impatient. It's pretty sweet actually. Once I set up an exchange account with their info, it syncs my google calendar and my contacts that I imported into Gmail. Pretty soon they are going to start pushing Gmail as well.

7/30/2008 8:23:31 PM

Picked mine up tonight.

Friggin' awesome little device.

7/30/2008 9:56:47 PM

my one complaint is that it didn't come with a dock and it doesn't work with the old iphone dock either. But this has been a cycle with iPods. one gen comes with a dock and the next doesn't...sigh

also what cases if any have you guys been using? I would like to not let this iphone look like my last one

7/31/2008 8:20:04 AM

^ I got a Belkin case from Apple's website (had a giftcard I needed to use) -- just a gel skin, pretty much. Don't wanna add too much girth, plus it came with a screen protector.

7/31/2008 9:14:59 AM

be careful with the gels.

Friends with the gels have had their phones significantly scratched in areas the gels are supposed to protect. The git does make it under the gel, then it gets grinded in.

I chose the Agent18 clear hard case for this fact. Only a couple pressure points, and you can see when/if ay grit gets in there.

7/31/2008 9:25:50 AM

anybody been by crabtree today? would like to run out after work but won't put in the effort if they're not available.

7/31/2008 2:40:59 PM

maybe you could call and check...?

7/31/2008 3:58:58 PM

Why even bother with a case? Just accept that the device WILL get scratched and be done with it. It's not like you sit there and look at the casing all the time, and even if you did, an opaque case doesn't allow this, and a clear case ruins the aesthetic in the first place.

7/31/2008 4:03:41 PM

the screens are very hard glass.. a screen protector is damn near pointless.. 9 months after getting mine and abusing the shit out of it the screen was nearly completely free of any nicks or scratches

and since this one is already thicker than the original i really don't think i'd want to add any additional thickness.. i'd just deal with the fact that it's something you use, its going to show some signs of wear eventually and that's that..

7/31/2008 4:11:49 PM

well, the new iphones have plastic casing i believe, so a case might be worth it. i saw a blog entry this morning about reports of cracks already appearing

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/31/iphone_3g_owners_report_hairline_cracks_in_their_phones_casing.html

7/31/2008 4:19:24 PM

If I am going to have a phone for 2 years, something I have only managed to do 1 other time in my life, I want it to stay looking nice. I can periodically change the case. I actually would like the phone to stay as nice as possible, so when the next version comes out, my phone actually might be worth selling as opposed to a cracked piece of shit.

The displays do scratch. There are tons of reports online of them scratching. Admittedly its not easy to do. However, the 'thickness' of the plastic shield is probably 2 mm thick. I have mine so perfectly fitted, that unless you know to look for it, you wont know its there.

I also have to buy a case, because for every phone I have had in the past few years, I will forget it is in my lap (when I am done with a call), and when I get out, it gets ejected. With it sliding across pavement, I'd just assume not be carrying around something that looks like shit when that happens.

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 4:29 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2008 4:24:23 PM

^I want a case for that reason too...except with me if i'm wearing shorts or sweat pants...the phone slips out of my pocket when i get out of the car and onto the concrete. Or when I forget to take it out of my pocket before I get in the car it will fall out and get damaged on the concrete.

plus i like my stuff looking nice.

7/31/2008 4:33:01 PM

they should've made these fuckers out of metal, or at least an option for it

7/31/2008 8:34:55 PM

^ at least it's not the ipod chrome backs, those fuckers get scratches from coming in contact with lint

but I agree, I hate the new backs

7/31/2008 8:59:41 PM

They should've done aluminum like the razr, my black razr lasted for over 3 years with next to no damage.

7/31/2008 9:04:30 PM

Quote :

"at least it's not the ipod chrome backs, those fuckers get scratches from coming in contact with lint"

you know polishing is REALLY easy.

8/1/2008 12:51:14 AM

got my 2 yesterday

i'm in love

8/1/2008 6:58:55 AM

^^

i shouldn't have to polish a phone/mp3 player

8/1/2008 8:12:40 AM

shouldn't be worried about a couple of scratches either.

8/1/2008 10:06:34 AM

I don't think you'd find anyone that would disagree that the mirror back finish on those ipods looked beat to shit from even careful usage



anyone had any luck buying a 16gb black from Crabtree? Im thinking of swinging through there tomorrow morning to pick some up but I don't want to if it's still gonna be a clusterfuck. This AT&T DF process has gotten fucked up some how and they don't estimate delivery any time soon.

8/1/2008 11:28:19 AM

^my co-worker went yesterday and got a 16gb black from crabtree

8/1/2008 11:31:23 AM

^

cool.. the only thing I'm worried about is it being tax free weekend so the place will probably be swamped

8/1/2008 11:38:09 AM

yeah, true.

8/1/2008 12:05:24 PM

speaking of tax-free

i was told by the operator that only after my computer shipped would i get my tax refunded on my account charge

8/1/2008 1:15:06 PM

As soon as I talk about getting one from the Apple store...

two charges just hit my debit card from AT&T. Guess that means they ship today

8/1/2008 2:05:21 PM

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/RecentlyAddedIphoneApplications-PinchMedia/~3/352034584/viewSoftware

Guys, you might want to buy this app quickly before they remove it again. Allows you to tether your laptop to your iphone and use 3g. it was pulled from the app store earlier (accidentally let out it appears). Still not on the app store, but the link to buy it through itunes is suddenly working again. I cant claim this app will work well, but for $10, its worth a shot...

8/1/2008 2:28:27 PM

hmm wonder if i leave work at 4 if i can make it to the mall before shit gets crazy there

8/1/2008 2:45:02 PM

^^yeah, unfortunately it only seems to allow tethering to a Mac and only supports Safari (from what I read). I'll wait on a real, fully featured tethering app

8/1/2008 5:22:35 PM

Dont worry in a few months when the new blackberries come out then everyone will forget about iphones and you can get them easy mode.

8/1/2008 5:40:01 PM

what's so great about the blackberry bold?

8/1/2008 6:00:48 PM