Poll: will you pre-order the iPhone 5 or stand in line?

Apple is taking iPhone 5 pre-orders starting 12:01am Pacific, 3am Eastern on September 14. That’s tomorrow and less than 24 hours from now. In addition to the online Apple Store, carriers Sprint, AT&T and Verizon have confirmed they will be taking pre-orders for the phone at the same time.

Several regional U.S. carriers also announced availability and retailer Walmart said it will be taking pre-orders at its U.S. stores starting at 8am, priced at $189.97 with a two-year AT&T, Verizon or Sprint contract.

With plenty of options for those who are planning on upgrading, I’m wondering if you prefer pre-ordering or standing in line for this year’s iPhone…

At any rate, if you’re gonna pay full price for your iPhone 5, keep tabs on what regional U.S. carriers are offering in your area. We know that Cricket, C Spire, GCI and Appalachian Wireless will all be landing the iPhone 5 on September 28.

If you’re going prepaid and off-contract, Cricket and Virgin are worth checking out.

With that in mind, cast your vote right now.



I’m guessing you’ll wanna pre-order the iPhone 5 without losing your unlimited data plan? Gizmodo has a handy guide on that.

Perhaps you’ll be jumping ship just to get the new iPhone? 148apps has you covered.

Pre-ordering online? Cult of Mac news editor John Brownlee has a bunch of useful tips on that, plus some carrier-specific advice.

Speaking of carriers, Ina Fried of AllThingsD wrote a nice roundup of some important fine print they ain’t telling you about.

Don’t want to wait in line for the iPhone 5? TaskRabbit will do it for you.

Speaking of standing in line, remember this?

Feel free to join the discussion with other fellow iDB readers down in the comments.

As for me, I’m most concerned about whether we’ll be able to pre-order the iPhone 5 off-contract and unlocked from day one.

If last year is an indication, Apple will push us into lengthy contracts by refusing to release the unlocked iPhone 5 on the online Apple store until 2013.

Also, if you’re a true fanboy – that is, the type who upgrades every year as I do – you’ll wanna avoid committing your soul to those nasty carriers for another two years.