I’m waiting to pre-order the iPhone 5.  In the past, Apple would make a tech announcement, I’d blog about how horrible it is and how I’m not going to buy it, and then a week later I’d line up with everyone else.  This time around I figured I’d just save some time and line up and cut out all the middle stuff.  Except that Apple announced that they’d start taking online pre-orders for the iPhone at 12:01 AM PST on the 14th and that the phone would be available on the 21st and that Hong Kong is one of the initial countries for the roll out.  Pre-orders started as scheduled in the US but here in Hong Kong the web site still says “available for online orders soon.”

Apple isn’t releasing any numbers yet but they claim based on one day of pre-orders in the US that the 5 is selling at a faster rate than the 4S.  We’ll see.

In the meantime, David Pogue, the NY Times’ tech guy, writes about the new iPhone 5 dock connector.

At first glance, there’s really only one cause for pause: Apple has replaced the 30-pin charging/syncing connector that’s been on every iPhone, iPad and iPod since 2003. According to Apple, it’s simply too big for its new, super-thin, super-packed gadgets.

So with the iPhone and the new iPod models also announced today, Apple is replacing that inch-wide connector with a new, far smaller one it’s calling Lightning.

I’ll grudgingly admit that the Lightning connector is a great design: it clicks nicely into place, but it can be yanked out quickly. It goes in either way — there’s no “right side up,” as there was with the old connector. And it’s tiny, which is Apple’s point.

Still, think of all those charging cables, docks, chargers, car adapters, hotel-room alarm clocks, speakers and accessories—hundreds of millions of gadgets that will no longer fit the iPhone.

Apple will sell two adapters, a simple plug adapter for $30 or one with a six-inch cable for $40, to accommodate accessories that can’t handle the plug adapter.

That’s way, way too expensive. These adapters should not be a profit center for Apple; they should be a gesture of kindness to those of us who’ve bought accessories based on the old connector. There’s going to be a lot of grumpiness in iPhoneland, starting with me.

And then there’s this (from here):

Ouch!