Apple's In-Store Pickup Tool for AirPods Now Live, Showing Early February Availability - MacRumors
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Apple's In-Store Pickup Tool for AirPods Now Live, Showing Early February Availability

Apple has activated its in-store pickup tool for AirPods on its website, enabling customers to enter a zip or postal code and check for availability of the all-new wireless earphones at Apple Stores in their local areas.

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Personal Pickup for AirPods is currently live in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, showing availability of February 6-8 in most countries, which is likely a conservative estimate due to limited stock.

The tool is not yet available in Belgium, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Turkey, or the United Arab Emirates, countries where Apple also operates retail stores, but it will presumably be expanded soon.

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AirPods became available for purchase at Apple Stores yesterday, and some lucky customers were able to secure one of the limited number of pairs available. Apple said stores will continue to receive "regular shipments" of AirPods, so customers may have success finding a pair before the early February dates quoted.

AirPods became available for purchase on Apple's website last week, but orders placed today are estimated to ship in 6 weeks, or around late January. The first wave of customers who ordered AirPods online began receiving their shipments yesterday in the United States and around the world.

Apple Authorized Resellers and carriers also began receiving a limited number of AirPods this week, as seen over the past few days when Best Buy and Verizon have periodically offered AirPods for estimated delivery as early as this week.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
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Top Rated Comments

B4U Avatar
126 months ago
Have the courage to get rid of the jack, yet have no courage to ramp up the production to match the demand.
Over 4 months AFTER the launch of the phone before the Air Pods are available for pick up in store if anyone missed the first boat. That is a little excessive, isn't it?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
126 months ago
NYCers, here's the deal: there is no point to "calling around to check inventory." Been there, done that. You'll get a different story every time, depending on whom you talk to.

Shipments are arriving at somewhat random times. The key here is to get there (by intuition, because I can't find a science for this) within FIVE MINUTES after a shipment shows up. I walked into the Grand Central Store today mid-afternoon, and was very lucky because the shipment had JUST arrived 5 mins earlier. "Go over to that table," they said. "Do you have Apple Pay?" they said. "Do you want one or two [pairs]?" they said.

You MUST have Apple Pay. You can ONLY buy two pairs (no more). The table I was referred to had a single box of (I think) only 20 pairs in it. It took less than 90 seconds to buy them. It took less than 5 seconds to pair them.

Good luck.

By the way, they are pretty awesome.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
126 months ago
I was thinking of doing this. When placing an order like this, are you immediately charged or is it when the item is ready for pickup?
In the past all they have done is a pre-auth on my card at the time of the order that falls off after a couple of days. Final charge is made at pickup.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
126 months ago
Might as well wait for Version 2 hoping it comes out with iPhone 8
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
126 months ago
February 8th? Meaning no store will get more inventory until then? Or will there be a steady trickle of them every day? I was hoping to go tomorrow on my day off when the mall opens at 9am, but it looks like that'll be a failed attempt if they aren't getting any more stock in.
To quote the person I spoke to in chat this morning, "Actually, there are two different types of inventory. In store pickup that you see on the website is February 8th, but the stores do receive them in random shipments daily. They will definitely get more in, but we aren’t sure of when that will be."
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CharlesShaw Avatar
126 months ago
Not any more it isn't!

But yes, I saw two Chicago stores had stock just a few minutes ago ... and now nothing.

Gotta be fast on that "Buy" button! :)
I was fast and got one, yes. Just received email that it's ready. Now I'm just curious if I had bought it for Feb 8 pickup whether or not I'd have gotten an email that it was ready today.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)