Pre-ordering only guarantees you an item
I honestly believe that pre-ordering does not mean that you are supposed to get units before the stores do. If you remember when SJ introduced the first Intel-powered laptops in Macworld 2006 he said the following:
"We will be shipping in February, we are taking orders starting today, if you want I suggest getting your orders in early."
By this he only meant that if you want to guarantee yourself a machine, thats when you would pre-order. I can recall that the very first day I heard of people getting their MacBook Pros on their doorsteps, I was able to briskly walk into an Apple Store and walk out with 2.0gHz MBP under my arm.
Rarely has Apple offered true "pre-ordering" behaviors. The only one that I can truly recall is when they were selling the new aluminum Bluetooth keyboards. Plenty of people received their units, and I was not able to buy one from an Apple Store until 2 weeks after I heard of the initial pre-order deliveries. When the iPhone Bluetooth earpieces came, there were plenty of people who pre-ordered, but I along with some other people were able to walk into a store and get an earpiece, while those who pre-ordered sat there and waited. Proof in my thread unboxing and reviewing the bluetooth earpiece.
Recently, Apple has also offered another kind of "pre-order" opportunity, and that was with Leopard. The only ones who DID receive Leopard early were those that were lucky enough to have a FedEX courier that did not obey the "don't ship till..." stickers. Jobs gave a specific date, and almost all of us pre-ordered.... did you guys really expect to get it any sooner than the day of?
Apple does not practice true "pre-order" behaviors because they don't give exact dates. The only reason they pre-order, aside from a great marketing scheme, is because they cannot guarantee sufficient production and cannot predict manufacture delays (i.e - Intels Penryn delays). The only companies that I know that practice true "pre-order" behaviors are videogame stores. The reason for this is because they actually take money from your hands, and give you a date when you pick up your game. And, if the game is hyped up enough, will even open at midnight so that those who get pre-orders can pick it up and play it right away, leaving the regular consumers to have to find them later in the morning. Does Apple offer you any of these special treatments when you pre-order? No, because they know a pre-order doesn't mean jack other than you'll eventually get one.
I honestly believe that those who pre-ordered don't really have any truck to demand units before the stores get them because Apple doesn't even take money from your hand or give us an exact date of when they'll be shipped. The only thing Apple takes from you is an authorization to your credit card, and the only guarantee they give you is that you'll be refreshing that shipping page like crazy like we're all doing.
So whoever is moaning of what's the point of "pre-ordering," you're getting exactly what its supposed to be, a guarantee you'll get a unit, no special privileges of being a "faithful Apple fan" or an "early adopter."
If you want to pre-order something and get some special treatment, go to EBGames and reserve a video game, maybe you'll be special and get a free "I Reserved Halo 7!!!" t-shirt
Just wait.
