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The Louisville bottleneck

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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October 12, 2011, 10:05 AM ET
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My iPhone 4S was making swift progress until it landed in Kentucky



UPS' Louisville Global Operations Center. Image: Google Street View

Like more than a million Apple (AAPL) customers I ordered a new iPhone last Friday. Since then I’ve been been tracking its movements on UPS. I watched leave the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China, Saturday afternoon. I saw it pass swiftly through Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. I watched it jet across the Pacific to Anchorage, Alaska, where it arrived at 2:41 p.m. Sunday and left eight and a half hours later.

Then it got to Louisville, Kentucky.

It was scanned in at 9:28 a.m. Tuesday at UPS’ Global Operations Center. And at 9:28 a.m. Wednesday — 24 hours later —  it was still sitting there.

Word that some customers in Germany had taken delivery of their iPhones three days before they were due gave some Americans hope that they wouldn’t have to wait until end-of-day Friday to get theirs.

Apple could make that happen, but it looks like they’ve chosen not to.

FRIDAY AM UPDATE: It’s on its way. See tracking info below.

UPDATE 2: It arrived at 11:00 a.m. Friday. 45 minutes Tho hours later, still waiting for activation to go through. “We’re sorry. There was a problem connecting with the server. Please try again later.”



SOURCE: UPS
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By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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