I just called Etrade. (Score 2)

I did just what a bunch of people did -- as soon as I heard of the IPO, sent an application and check to etrade, also transferred an account.
(Transfer won't be done in time, hence the check.)

I was told just now --

1) You can't even "express an interest" yet.

2) There will be a 2 hr period when you can express interest and fill out the elegibility info.

3) You won't know which 2 hours. There will be no announcement ahead of time. You need to be logged
in to catch it. You may not even know which day.

4) It's meant to be random. etrade handles all
their IPOs this way.

I would be annoyed at not qualifying, but I'll be
enraged if their definition of random means I
miss the 2 hr window and don't get a chance
to qualify. In that case I plan to bail
out of etrade (to datek, which has worked well for me).
I told him so. Maybe if we all call,
they'll get the message. It's one thing to loose
the lottery. It's another to be denied a chance
to buy a ticket.

Long pig.