Customers of the AT&T store in Carlsbad’s Plaza Camino Real Mall bought up Apple’s new iPhone 3G as quickly as workers could activate them this moring on day one of the product’s roll-out. By 11:45 AM, much to the chagrin of the 30 some people still waiting in line, the store had sold out entirely.
“When I got here a little before 8 AM there were already about 15 people in line,” said one AT&T employee. “But the line has been about this size for most of the morning.
The line, which held steady at about 30 people all morning, snaked most of the way around the Westfield Playtown in front of Sears at the mall’s west end. At about 10:30 AT&T employees began letting people at the back of the line know that the chances of them getting a phone were not good, but that they would be able to pay for the phone a “direct fulfillment process” and then be called to come into the store to pick them up when the phone arrived.
A UPS man rolled in at around 11 AM with another shipment of phones, however, employees said that their system does not allow them to sell phones that arrive the same day. “We can’t sell the phones that arrive today, today,” she said. “We have to hold them for tomorrow.”
At about 11:40 a guy came out of the store with a loud whoop and waved his phone in the air. At the time those waiting in line chuckled thinking that he was simply happy to have a new phone. What they later learned was that no one who heard his yell would get a phone today because his was the last one.
For those who didn’t get to the store early (and don’t want to pay now and get the phones later) it looks like Saturday is going to be another day of standing in line. We’ll let you know how that goes.
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