So i called around to all the corporate locations near me as well as one non-corporate one. The non-corporate one said they won't have ANY on Thursday and also claimed that most locations will be in the same boat as them unless they ordered their X's very very early.
All the corporate locations said that they'd be opening 1 hour early (8am) and that they aren't doing pre-orders. One corporate store said they have a waiting list, but the list has 43 people on it and they were only going to have 40 available. When i said, "i guess it won't be worthwhile for me to add myself to the list since i won't be able to get there until after work." He said that the 43 people were only being promised a place in line, and if #1 wasn't there when they open, he'd loose his spot to #2, and so on.
He then offered to call me 5 minutes before they open, and if i give him my credit card number at that time, he'd ring me up and i'd be guaranteed that mine would be there and ready for me whenever i come into the store. I asked if i'd be stealing someone's who was on the list, and he said no b/c all they promised the waiting-list people was a place in line, and were unable to promise they'd have enough for everyone on the list.
Although this sounded a bit sketchy, it's worth a try. Assuming that he calls at 7:55am (and the caller id says it's Verizon), i'd say i have an X waiting for me after work. Otherwise, i roll the dice at a store over lunch or try to order online...
-dave
