Above, customers at the Montreal Apple Store wait for Rogers to get their systems working
Upgrading to an iPhone 3G S in Canada? We feel for you, and we fear we’re going to continue to feel for you for a healthy portion of the day. Last year there were activation backlogs and hang-ups all over, but it was especially egregious in Canada, where people were waiting for half the day for Rogers’ system to get up and happy and talking with Apple’s system.
Our esteemed editor Rene Ritchie just called in from his Apple Store to say that their system isn’t showing the 3G S on the Rogers system and it’s unclear how exactly it’s going to be resolved. Last year we heard 6-hour-wait horror stories. This year we’re crossing our fingers that resolution will come more quickly.
On the bright side, we haven’t heard a whiff of a problem anywhere else. From Switzerland to Cincinnati people who didn’t pre-order are finding lines short enough to guarantee everybody will get their phone and activations almost as quick as the iPhone 3G S itself.
Well that didn’t take long. RapidRepair.com just let us know they’ve already gotten their iPhone 3G S and rendered it directly down to its component parts.
IKEA and Spike Jonze remind us above that you can’t really hurt your old iPhone’s feelings by upgrading to the latest, greatest iPhone 3G S, but that doesn’t mean you have to dump the poor obsoleted fella either.
So what are your plans for your last-year’s iPhone 3G or original iPhone 2G? Selling them on eBay? Unlocking them to use as travel devices? Keeping them as backup? Turning them into a dedicated couch-bound iTunes/Apple TV remote? Gifting them to a needy family member or friend? Saving them up to build the world’s tallest iPhone tower? Sending them to Cellphones for Soldiers? What?
TiPb just received word from Rogers and, well, it’s typically long and complicated so we’ll just give them the floor:
We’ve just announced the details of special Hardware Upgrade savings for our existing iPhone customers and wanted to let you know.
There has been a lot of excitement around the new iPhone 3G S and we wanted to recognize the early adopters who helped make the iPhone the hottest-selling handset in Canadian wireless history. We will be discounting the price of the iPhone 3G S by between $250 and $500 to provide savings to many of our iPhone customers.
What this means is that eligible iPhone owners can acquire the iPhone 16GB 3G S for as low as $199 or the 32GB for as low as $299 until July 31, 2009.
For Fido customers, we’re offering the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion. This enables iPhone customers to redeem FidoDollars towards a new iPhone 3G S with an additional $100 top-up from Fido.
For customers who don’t qualify for these extra savings, we are pleased to offer Rogers Wireless customers the iPhone at our cost on rogers.com. This cost – $580 for the iPhone 3G, $680 for the iPhone 3G S 16GB and $780 for the iPhone 3G S 32GB – represents the price we pay for the device plus a nominal fee for the SIM card. Customers can access these devices at retail locations for just $19 more for the three devices.
We’re also happy to announce that Rogers and Fido are extending the 6GB/$30 data promotion until July 31. This offer is valid for customers on a new or existing iPhone plan or customers buying an Android-powered HTC Magic or HTC Dream.
AT&T (via MacRumors) has posted a video of iPhone 3G S getting dressed up for its big debut tomorrow morning. If you ordered from them Empire, one of those just might be yours!
TiPb will be in line tomorrow. If you see any of us, say hello! And make sure you join us here on the blog and in the forums so we can all share pictures and updates on what’s come to be the yearly Super Bowl of gadget releases.
Very brand-conscious start time aside, looks like UK customers on O2 now know what time the queue ends and the buying begins…
UPDATE: Sounds like the second poster, below, might be there just in case a store sells out and wants to inform customers. Thanks to everyone in the comments for logic-ing this out!
Due to high demand we have run out of the iPhone 3G S
We’ve mentioned this before, but as anyone who’s read our comments or seen the Twitter’splosion over it already knows, those folks who pre-ordered the iPhone 3G S from Apple have been tortured for the last few days with ever changing — and even disappearing — delivery dates. (Right Jeremy?)
From June 22nd to in-transit to June 17 to June 19 to June 18 to held-by-shipper to who-the-$%^-knows anymore, uber-iPhone lovers have been hitting refresh and yanking hair out almost every minute on the minute.
As of now, any UPS drivers out there are making deliveries of anything other than an iPhone 3G S today, make sure you walk up to the door slowly, yelling “no iPhone!” loudly, lest you suffer the weeping wrath of frustpointment you get for handing over nothing more than a rutabaga twirler.
But, if anyone out there actually does get their shiny new iPhone 3G delivered today, drop a comment to let us know, then go post some pics for us in the forums.
Well, it looks like UPS did indeed deliver a few iPhone 3G S a tad early. Heh. And here’s what some of the top guns in tech thought of Apple’s newest handset.
Overall, most felt it was evolution rather than revolution, a solid update if not one re-forged in the unicorn tears of it’s ancestors. Is the best getting better enough? TiPb will tell you our thoughts after we stand in line tomorrow and grab ours. If you’re waiting as well, check out the reviews and let us know what you think:
Chicago Sun Times: Review: iPhone 3G S is a slick upgrade for a slick device
Tuesday was all about the Twitter. Wednesday we took it iPhone Live! Well today, we bring it back home.
For your last chance to enter TiPb’s 32GB iPhone 3G S give away, just go over to the TiPb iPhone Forums and tell us the #1 reason you want to upgrade (if you already have an iPhone), or why you want to make this your first iPhone (if you’re currently rocking some other RAZRPreBerryDroidMobile97 device). Nothing fancy, just the deal-maker.
