Skip to main content

Apple in-store iPhone 5s pickup option pulled after just one day

Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 8.17.44 AM

Yesterday, we noted that Apple has begun allowing customers to purchase a new iPhone 5s through its online store and then pickup the product that day (or another day) at their local Apple Retail Store. This “Personal Pickup” option could have been the most efficient way to get a new iPhone from Apple, with online shipments reaching ship dates in October and lines at Apple Stores still going strong.

However, multiple readers have noticed that the in-store pickup option has disappeared from both Apple’s Online Store and its Apple Store mobile app. It is currently unclear as to why Apple pulled the functionality after just one day. Perhaps the option will appear and disappear based on current availability levels, but it is unlikely that supply of the iPhone 5s could have shifted enough between yesterday and today for the feature to be pulled for that reason.

The iPhone 5s, which has seen strong availability in Apple Stores, carrier stores, is still available for in-store pickup via Apple’s Online Store. Yesterday, Apple announced that both of the new iPhone sold 9 million units combined during the launch weekend.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. I’m still slightly bummed that the Apple Store app still doesn’t have the option of an unlocked 5s like the desktop site.

  2. George Magdaleno - 11 years ago

    Even thought the new iPhone 5S is available in China, the reseller market is alive and well in the Los Angeles area. All the way to Santa Barbara there a crowd of folks in the Apple Store at noon yesterday on State Street looking for the 5S.

  3. Matthew Dolechek - 11 years ago

    I ordered my 5s on the Apple site. It will not ship to October.. but just yesterday I noticed on the site that they had them all available in stock at my local store. I got to the store in about 15 minutes from the time I saw that and they were sold out of the model I wanted but did have others available. When I almost decided to go with a different model they told me that they had to re “calibrate” their inventory because so many online orders came through to that store that they did not know if they had enough to go around meaning once they did their inventory then they would know if they could sell me one or not. I decided to just wait for mine to ship to my house instead. When I got home to check the site again it still said all were available at my local store meaning you could very well likely think they have one but because they do not seem to be updating as fast as they are selling you could not end up with one…

    • Firas (@Firocity) - 11 years ago

      Why didn’t you just order yours online or through the app and try and pick it up, rather than going to the store to make the purchase?

      • Matthew Dolechek - 11 years ago

        Well since I already had the order placed through the site originally, I figured if I went to the store to get it I could just cancel my order and buy it there instead.

        Now I was watching the site update the info showing if my store had it or not. All morning until about almost 1pm they said they had none and then I checked again and they all appeared so that is when I flew to the store to get one. Yes canceling my order on line and then buying it on the site and selecting pick up in store option may have worked. With that said, I spoke to my friend who works at an Apple store in Florida, he said they pulled that option the next day because they couldnt keep their inventory up to date as fast as they were selling and with customers already in store buying them up, MANY online orders did not get fulfilled because it was not updated fast enough so those people have to wait as well Just like myself

        Make sense?

  4. shareef777 - 11 years ago

    Woohoo, I was able to leverage the store pickup option to grab one yesterday.

  5. Chris Cooper (@clcooper) - 11 years ago

    Does this sentence in the report above:

    “The iPhone 5s, which has seen strong availability in Apple Stores, carrier stores, is still available for in-store pickup via Apple’s Online Store. ”

    contradict what the report was written about? the report says pickup is not available, then the last sentence says that it is.

    Or am I misreading/misinterpreting this last part of the report?
    -Chris

    • Colin Jeffers - 11 years ago

      I read it over and over again. It just does not make sense. I went two Apple stores yesterday and they only had the AT&T version in stock- I’m with Sprint. Checked several other retailers and they’re all sold out also.

  6. kpom1 - 11 years ago

    @Matthew, perhaps that’s why Apple pulled the functionality. They need to get their inventory tracking in order before rolling it out.

  7. Benjamin (@NSbenjamins) - 11 years ago

    yeah it’s hard to keep your inventory in sync. Specially when they are getting orders at this rate.

  8. I got lucky…ordered through the Apple site and selected in-store pick-up yesterday and had no problems. They even had a few gold ones and I was in the process of ordering one. When I went to submit my order, it said it was no longer available. I switched to silver instead and picked it up within an hour.

    As much as I love Apple and their products, I think it is a ridiculous marketing ploy the way they handled the 5s rollout. They wanted the long lines at the retail stores. There is plenty of stock out there, especially at the Apple stores. They are receiving shipments everyday, sometimes twice a day.

  9. rachel (@racheljaded) - 11 years ago

    I managed to get a 5S via in-store pickup yesterday – just barely. I got there 45 minutes before the store closed, and they told me that I couldn’t pick up my order because there were 25 other people ahead of me trying to pick theirs up, too, and they only had so many specialists to go around. There were several other people in the same boat, and also some people who had walked in to buy 5C phones, and none of us were too pleased. Some of us decided to add our names to the list and wait around anyway, and they did make it to me. Not sure if they got all the way through the list, though.

  10. drtyrell969 - 11 years ago

    OMG! False scarcity?! You don’t say! Must be a good phone if they didn’t make enough to handle supplies. I mean, that must mean it’s AMAZING! If they had had enough it wouldn’t be as great a phone. False Scarcity! False Scarcity! … please, you sound like a bunch of children.

  11. kunal526 - 11 years ago

    i have been waiting for the apple to restore in store iphone 5s pickup option since today morning but no positive response from them. is it really going to allow this option.?
    does anybody know the exact time when they are going to open this option.?
    help me if any one has got some releasing time for this option.

  12. John Potatoes - 10 years ago

    Hi. If it says that the personal pickup is not available at a certain store…these they dont have the phone in stock?

  13. John Potatoes - 10 years ago

    This means**