UK availability

[Jackonicko]

Can someone swing by Regent St and get a definitive idea of whether they have the Touch yet, and if not, when they expect it?

Same for the Classic 160, too, really.

[jhollington]

I would be very surprised if they have stock yet. None of the North American stores have it in yet, and Steve Jobs indicated it was shipping today (ie, from the factories in China).

Regent St will probably be among the first to get stock as a flagship store, but you probably won't find anything there until Friday at the earliest if previous releases are any indication.

[Bob]

Jacko,
It's not even in the UK Apple Store - I would hazard a guess that Regent Street will get them in either at the same time as the UK online store or just after....

US Apple Store is showing the iPod touch "Ships: By September 28th"

Classic is shipping "Ships: 1-3 business days"

You'll get it soon enough......

[jhollington]

Actually, it suddenly occurs to me that we're talking about the iPod touch. That's not even supposed to start shipping until closer to the end of September.

I expect it will be September 30th before you see them in any retail stores.

The iPod classic and other models will probably arrive in the next few days, however.

[Jackonicko]

Bob,

It's in the UK Apple Store, and has been since the page came back up. It gives a "Ready to ship: By September 28th" message for the Touch now.

I'm in the States in a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to work out if one of these would be a useful device for getting online and e-mailing (from WiFi hotspots) when I don't have the laptop with me. $299

Or whether a cheapo 4 GB US iPhone ($299) would give me what I need. Can you activate it by failing the AT&T credit check (which as a non US resident I would do!) Or could I unlock an iPhone and use a UK sim card in that as a phone handset, too? That doesn't matter - the appeal is e-mail and web on the road.

Could I use a US iPhone for sending e-mail and checking the web via WiFi?

I'd consider a full up iPhone, but realistically that's not going to happen for another two or three months, minimum. And I am really concerned that the UK won't get the 'unlimited data/browsing/e-mail' options that AT&T offer on the iPhone in the USA, making the iPhone less interesting to me.

They're giving a 'shipping in three days' message for the iPod Classic, and for the new Nanos.

[jhollington]

As I mentioned in another thread, if you're willing to hack around a bit with the iPhone, it's probably a much better option as a portable device for e-mail purposes.

The iPod touch doesn't appear to even have an e-mail client, so you'd be restricted to web-mail, which can be a nuisance compared to a real client that lets you carry your e-mail with you, save drafts, and even compose messages offline and send them when you're near an access point.

I don't use my iPhone as a phone, but even today if I had to choose between a 16GB touch and an 8GB iPhone at the same price point, I'd take the iPhone hands-down.

[owen-b]

I'd take the iPhone if I wasn't going to be absolutely WALLOPED by data charges and 18-24 month contract lock-ins, and if I thought it wasn't going to be a billion times better by the next gen.

I'm taking a 16GB iPod touch now, sticking with my current mobile or the thinnest, simplest, sexiest upgrade I can get (Nokia 6300?), then ditching both for a 16GB or more iPhone MkII in a year or so...

Apart from anything else, still no news on a UK launch!

[simond]

I called up the Regents St, London Apple store today and they told me they expected stock of the Touch on the 1st of October