So I Bought an iPhone

UPDATE: It seems that trying to buy $800 worth of stuff and ship it to a different address raises a fraud alert with my Chase Visa card. Thus, my iPhone order was canceled. As it turns out, the local Apple store didn’t sell out last night, so I just went in and bought one this morning. Total time at store: 25 minutes.

Combine that with the fact that most people who waited in line yesterday still haven’t activated their phones due to an AT&T backlog, and it looks like it worked out better for me. I got the same result without waiting in line.

Driving by the local AT&T store today I saw more people in line than iPhones were delivered. Calling the mall revealed over 200 people in line at noon. I still refuse to wait in line for a phone so I logged on to the Apple store at 6:00 PDT tonight and purchased my 8gig iPhone that way. It looks like I got there right in time too because the site is being slow as syrup tonight.

Sure, I won’t have it right now… but I can wait 2 weeks to get it. My current phone may be still randomly not allowing calls – but I’ll deal with it for another 2 weeks. I’ve already dealt with it for a month or so.

Apple does a good job of sucking you in for accessories though. After adding the bluetooth headset, a rubber case, and an AC power adapter I spent almost $850 total at the site today. Unfortunately the online store recomended that I buy a dock and a headset (2 accessories that come with the iPhone) but after realizing I didn’t need them, it was really painless to cancel just those items without affecting my entire order.

I’m sure Apple will suck even more money out of me as time progresses. I just hope somebody is home to sign for it. I’ve had problems with never being able to get my Apple store products and having to drive to downtown Detroit to pick up my shipments.

June 29th, 2007