I have a friend that's a regional manager/director of some sort, out in the DC area. I never try to abuse this friendship, and I only have ever called him about TMO stuff when I've been repeatedly unsuccessful at getting a native English speaker on the phone to resolve any issues, or get obviously erroneous information. As soon as I messaged him, he started to preempt me with the "Bruh... I have NO idea when these things are getting in..." thing, which made me actually laugh out loud. I just wanted to ask him a few questions about some things I had l read in this forum (mentioning MR forums made HIM laugh out loud).
1. There is no "priority list". Customers may be getting told something in an attempt to placate them, which is inappropriate, but there's no "express" line or anything. Some people are (rightfully) being compensated in some form for complications with TMO's website during the launch, but not advanced placement or bumping other customers
2. New customers/transferring customers are not prioritized over existing customers in any fashion. This was the one I kinda pressed him on... just the thought of it bugged me. He said any incentives for new/switching customers is spelled out up front, and are usually in the form of discounts or some other financial method. Never with shipping a product - especially an iPhone on launch.
So... take from that what you will. I'm satisfied with that, and I trust this guy. As for the actual shipments, guess I'll start looking next week.