Why wait in line when you can pre-order from the comfort of your home? Apple, ATT & Sprint tell us at midnight you just log on and order one up for delivery the same day others (like I have in the past) will be standing in line. For hours!

12am comes around, no Apple or ATT iPhone4s website up yet. Nor 12:15. Nor 12:30. I think it was about 12:40 that it finally came up. And then an endless ordeal of trying to place an order only to have things time out or come up with various other error messages. I was running three separate computers trying to get it going (an older iPhone through the “updater” app, a desktop and a laptop, refreshing screens, hoping one would eventually “take”). It wasn’t until I gave up on the fancy apps and Apple’s site and just logged into my account on ATT like I was adding or subtracting features that things worked. In other words, once I gave up on the various fancy gateways, voila. Just looked at the 50 upgrade phones for my account, chose the relevant 4s, and everything worked quickly and efficiently. Would it have done so had tried that route earlier? Don’t know.

So 2:01am my transaction was finally complete. Welcome to the future.