Was Today my iPhone4 Day?

UPDATE SATURDAY 3RD JULY:

Woooooooooooooooooo! My blog post last night worked (see below)! After I finished with work today I took a drive into Lincoln and guess what… I got an iPhone4.  Yay!  It’s currently doing the necessary via iTunes so expect a blog post or two about it in the near future.

ORIGINAL POST:

Er… nope.  But it wasn’t for lack of trying!  Let me explain…

You know I’ve been waiting for the iPhone4 to come out for some time.  On launch day last week I was on holiday in the Lake District, not really anywhere close to an O2 store (my network of choice) or Apple store, and definitely nowhere near a computer with iTunes on it to activate the iPhone to start using it.  So I knew as soon as that date was announced as when it would be available that I would have to wait.  And we knew from the news reports on launch day that demand had been very high, with queues around corners and many people disappointed about the lack of stock across the UK.

We got home on the Saturday afternoon and I started to check the stock in my local stores.  The O2 stock checker said my local O2 store in Lincoln had some left… but it was closed so we obviously didn’t make the trip.  Sunday morning and the stock checker still said they had stock, so I was all ready to jump in the car and head to Lincoln until my other half pointed out a phone call might be a good idea first – only to discover the stock checker was incorrect and they had sold out on Friday morning and weren’t expecting another delivery until this week.  Good job I phoned.

On Monday I was back at work in Lincoln.  I watched the O2 online stock checker (well when I say “watched” I mean I checked it two or three times) and called the store a couple of times, but no sign of any new stock coming any time soon.  I kept an eye on the online stock checker throughout the week and popped into the store on my lunch breaks, but again, no luck.

Which brings us to today.  O2 sent out an email yesterday saying that iPhones would be delivered to some stores today or tomorrow – excellent I thought, perfect.  So today I woke up all excited – could today be the day?!

I phoned the Lincoln store at 9.30am (ish) to see if they had or were expecting a delivery.  I was in luck!  Although they hadn’t arrived yet they were expecting some to come in today, and advised me to check the O2 stock checker online from 11am.  So I did.  Nothing came in at 11am.  In fact at that time I noticed that there were no stores in the East Midlands at all that had any stock.  I also noticed that stores in London, Manchester, Brighton, Maidstone and other places had obviously had deliveries as they were showing ticks.  About 15 minutes before midday I phoned the store in Lincoln again (if they were in I wanted to get there before the midday lunchtime rush).  This time I was told that actually they weren’t going to get a delivery after all.

How disappointing!

I did look at the online stock checker a couple of times in the afternoon but that cross against 32gb black iPhone4 (and the 16gb one too) was still there.  On checking I noticed that more stores in ‘major cities seemed to have stock, alot of those in the South, and that one store in the East Midlands had a delivery, in Derby.

How about further affield I thought?  Meadowhall in Sheffield – that’s about an hour and a half from home and opens until late, maybe they had some?  The stock checker said one of the two O2 stores there did.  But again, before we made the trip after work this evening I gave them a call.  Nope, neither store had stock.  How about the Apple Store at Meadowhall?  Well I called them, and after being kept on hold for around 5 minutes (“your call is important to us” etc), someone at the other end picked the phone up and promptly put it down again without saying a word.  Charming.

So no iPhone4 for me today then!  And there won’t be tomorrow either as I’m working, and not near an O2 shop this time.

I have to say I was really surprised that nowhere near me had deliveries of the new iPhone4 today.  I know stock is limited but it doesn’t seem right that the massive cities should get all the stock.  The closest place that got stock today (that showed online, which I have already found out isn’t always right) was an hour and a half drive away.  Surely O2 could have spread them around the UK a bit better than that?  Or at least made them available online instead of instore to allow everyone a fair go at getting one?  I know O2 probably just sent them to where the majority of their customers are, but that left me out.

I still want an iPhone4 but just like waiting for the price to be announced by O2 a couple of weeks back, I’m going to have to try and be patient.  My other half said I should have one by October… I hope so!