Lots of people who placed pre-orders for the new iPhone 3GS with Apple are starting to see delivery notices / tracking updates suggesting they will be getting their new babies tomorrow or the next day – as in, before the official public release date of June 19th.
I’ve heard this directly from site readers, and seen it talked about over at the everythingiCafe forums. Though many folks have suggested that despite what the notices may say, UPS will just be holding the packages for delivery on 6/19, Engadget seems to think it’s more likely that some lucky folks will be getting new toys over the next couple days:
As iPhones make the inevitable transition from wildly-anticipated objects of lust to commodities, it seems that Apple’s putting progressively less effort into carefully orchestrating and micro-managing launches — and if you want solid proof of that, look no further than the shipping tracking numbers coming off of the online Apple Store’s order status site where you’ll find that some iPhone 3G S units should be in buyers’ hands tomorrow. If you’re counting, that’d be a full two days before the official release of this Friday — and while we suppose the company could have some agreement in place with its carriers to hold onto the units until the official release, we’re not giving UPS that much credit.
Let us know if you’ve got a shipping notice saying you’re getting the 3GS early? And be sure to send us pics if you do get one, so that the rst of us can really get our envy going. 
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I ordered mine the first day it was announced and mine is saying "on time" with a delivery of tomorrow. My brother who ordered a day or 2 after me has his status is "shipping soon." We shall see!
Shipped yesterday morning from SHENZHEN, CN. Recently departed from CHECK LAP KOK, HK (wherever that is)! I live on the East Coast so I'm hoping for tomorrow but I'm not so sure.
But No Delivery Date is given on the UPS tracking info site for me
I even registered for MyUPS because it said for more detail log in.
I also ordered mine on the first day and it says it will be delivered on the 18th. Does anyone know about activation? Will it be through iTunes or will I need to go in to a store to do it?
Order last week and now fedex is saying its in NJ and will be delivered by 7PM tomorrow.
Good luck to all you guys – hope they do arrive early for you. I wish I'd ordered via Apple now – I'll be waiting round at AT&T at 7:00am Friday
hmmm. this afternoon UPS tracking said my scheduled delivery was 6/17/09. just check again and the "scheduled delivery" info is mysteriously missing from the tracking information. odd.
My shipping info shows delivery for Thursday 6/18. According to the tracking it's in a Alaska right now..
"THE RECEIVER REQUESTED A HOLD FOR A FUTURE DELIVERY DATE. UPS WILL ATTEMPT DELIVERY ON DATE REQUESTED" (UPS tracking page)
@UPS – I most certainly did NOT request a hold for a future delivery date!!!
But it still says "Your package is on time with a scheduled delivery date of 06/17/2009" *crosses fingers*
MuscleNerd (from iPhone Dev Team) tweeted that it is just a temporary hold while being checked in at US customs
It looks like some slipped through at first but everybody else's are being held at the Kentucky UPS hub until an unspecified date. The general consensus is that Apple didn't want everyone trying to activate their new phone *AND* everyone updating to 3.0 at the same time causing bandwidth issues. My Delivery date is reflecting 06/18 now so I'm still hoping to get it then instead of having to wait until possibly 7pm on Friday for them to get around to delivery.
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