Probably one of the more interesting parts of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s announcement, was something that wasn't necessarily announced. Or, if it was, it was announced by omission. While Apple, near the end of their iPhone reveal event, was busy announcing pre-orders for the iPhone 5c, they conveniently forgot to say anything about a pre-order for the iPhone 5s. That was odd during the event, but it got even stranger immediately after.

Why? Well, we all know why by now: no pre-order. In a very, very strange move, Apple decided to not offer a pre-order for the iPhone 5s, but instead only for the iPhone 5c. In the days that followed, everyone was up-in-arms about Apple's silence on pre-order sales, which led some people to believe that they weren't all that great. Apple usually makes a pretty big deal about pre-order numbers, so it was an interesting turn of events.

Whatever the reason, it meant that today, September 20, was going to be a very busy day for a lot of people. Whether they were trying to order a device online, or hoping to find their way to a store in the early hours, it would seem to be a race against time. Especially with word that there might be limited stock available at retail locations.

Online stores opened at midnight, Pacific time, and then it was off to the races.

I had to run a quick tally from one online store to the next, from Apple's website to the four major wireless carriers, because my curiosity was getting the best of me. I already had a plan to attempt to buy the next iPhone, and buying it online wasn't part of the plan. So, my curiosity for the online sales was simply shipping times, and how they looked several hours after the purchase window opened.

As of 9:30 AM, Apple's website says that you can't get an iPhone 5s for about a week, all the way up to 10 days. AT&T's site, for the iPhone 5s, says it will take you up to 14 days to get your iPhone 5s shipped to you. Sprint's website suggests that you'll have to wait up to 3 weeks to get your hands on your new device. Verizon breaks it down a bit more, and you won't be able to get your hands on either the 16GB or 32GB until around October 7, while the 64GB version is shipping on September 24 (as of the time of this writing). And, interestingly enough, T-Mobile's site didn't give me any delayed shipping information regarding the iPhone 5s.

Despite the fact that the iPhone 5c had a pre-order available, not everyone pre-ordered it. Some waited to today, and so I had to check each of the sites to find out how the iPhone 5c was stacking up. I'm not surprised to see that the iPhone 5c is shipping from everywhere it's available pretty quickly: either that day, or one to three days later.

We've been hearing about people lining up already, and today is no different. Here on the West coast, people are still waiting in line, while on the other side of the country those lines are dwindling or are already depleted (along with stock).

My plan to go into a store, to risk just walking into a physical retail location and walking out with a new phone, may mean I end up without a new device today, and that's just something I've got to work with. My fingers are crossed, and I'm hoping for the best. Thankfully, I didn't see a line last night when I drove by the location. That could have changed this morning, though. (Hopefully it didn't.)

So, I have to know: did you buy a new iPhone today? If so, which one did you pull the trigger on, and how did you get it? Did you buy it online? Or are you going into a store like me and hoping for the best? Or did you run away from the new iOS? Let me know!