My Experience Pre-Ordering a $742.69 iPhone 4

iPhone 4 Pre-Order Successful

Like me, you probably spent a good part of yesterday refreshing Apple’s pre-order page, filling in the information required and getting various frustrating error messages.

Besides trying to pre-order the iPhone 4, I spent most of my day at the hospital with my fiancee who was meeting with a couple specialists (nothing major). I frenetically checked my iPhone every 2 minutes or so and tried countless times to go through the pre-order process.

At some point I heard rumors that AT&T was running out of iPhones and I thought it wouldn’t be too long until Apple does too. In the meanwhile I had received several tips from people on Twitter telling me the Apple Store application that Apple had released was working great for pre-ordering.

So I decided to use this app to reserve my iPhone for pickup, instead of pre-ordering it for delivery as this option wasn’t available. In less than a minute I had reserved an iPhone 4 which I was supposed to pick up on June 24th.

I was really relieved I did have my name on one of those iPhones but I still wasn’t completely satisfied. I didn’t want to drive 45 minutes and wait in line to pick up an iPhone that I wasn’t even sure would be there for me. Yes, when you pre-order an iPhone for pick up, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will get this iPhone. It’s all on a first-come, first-served basis!

So I kept trying the Apple Store website in the hope that it would go through at some point. And it did! While we were stuck in traffic on our way back from the hospital, I was able to add an iPhone 4 to my cart. I then started praying for 3G not to die on me. It didn’t.

After a few minutes of filling out information, I had successfully pre-ordered my iPhone 4 for delivery on June 24th. That made my day!

Since I was not eligible for any kind of upgrade I had to pay full price for my iPhone. Total amount came to $742.69 ($699 + $43.69 in taxes). That ain’t a cheap iPhone! For that price, I could probably get an unlocked iPhone in Canada…

I still have the other iPhone 4 reserved at my local Apple Store and I will leave this reservation opened, just in case something goes wrong with my delivery.

That was a painful experience which ate up most of my day, but of course it was worth it. What wouldn’t we do for an iPhone?

How was your experience pre-ordering your iPhone 4? Let us know by leaving a comment.