Apple ’s iPhone has gone missing from most retail shelf , fueling speculation that the arriver a new version of the fluid machine — possibly featuring support for faster 3 G wireless technology — is imminent .
“ We are currently out of broth , ” Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris confirm on Monday .
That goes for brick - and - trench mortar Apple Stores as well . Macworldcalled five Apple Stores located across the U.S. The stores in New York , Chicago , San Francisco , Cambridge , Mass. , and Palo Alto , Calif. , all confirmed that their iPhone oblation had dried up .
This was the message greeting customers at Apple’s online store Monday when they tried to buy an 8GB or 16GB iPhone.
“ We do n’t have either [ model ] , ” say a sale representative at Apple ’s flagship Fifth Avenue entrepot in New York City . “ At this time we do n’t have any information on when we ’ll get them . ” Sales personnel office at other location suggested that extra iPhones could be in stock as early as Tuesday , though they powerfully evoke that customers call to confirm handiness before lead to the storehouse .
U.S. customers looking for iPhones are n’t totally locked out , however;Macworldalso contacted AT&T store near each of the Apple Stores we polled . Four of the five stores reported that they had both 8 GB and 16 GB iPhones in bloodline ; the AT&T store in Palo Alto only had 16 GB phone available .
That ’s a contrast to the U.K. , where iPhones are out of ancestry both through Apple and its partners . Besides O2 account that it was out of iPhones , Carphone Warehouse , a retail partner in the U.K. , says that it ’s out of farm animal for both model .
signaling began level to a forced iPhone supplier in recent week . During an April conference call to talk over Apple ’s second - one-quarter wage , Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook acknowledged that the company ’s U.S. store had been experiencing an inventory shortage earlier that month , which he attribute to higher than prognosticate demand in the post - holiday purchasing environment .
This was the content salutation customers at Apple ’s on-line store Monday when they tried to bribe an 8 GB or 16 GB iPhone .
give Apple ’s oft - stated end of trade 10 million iPhone by year ’s destruction , the assumption gain favour on the cyberspace is that iPhone supply have dried up as Apple cook a new version of the headphone , with a release likely to number in the next few weeks . “ It would be the kind of thing that would naturally precede the innovation of a new model , ” said Ross Rubin , manager of psychoanalysis at market - enquiry house NPD Group .
A second - generation iPhone , likely incorporating high - speed 3 1000 wireless engineering science , is widely expected to make an appearance presently . lead have been dropped over the past year by both AT&T CEORandall Stephenson , who said last November that a 3 G iPhone would show up “ next yr , ” and AT&T Wireless chiefRalph de la Vega , who say during April ’s CTIA Conference that “ our integrated devices [ will ] be 3 G machine in the not - too - distant future , and I mean months . ”
While Apple has keep characteristically Chrysanthemum morifolium about its roadmap for future products — the ship’s company reject Monday to point out about the late round of speculation — it has not been closelipped about its plans to expand further into Europe and into Asia this twelvemonth . Already , a slew of common carrier have announce lot with Apple in recent weeks to land the iPhone to body politic such as India , Australia , and Italy . In the case of Italy , reports from medium in that nation have suggested that 3 GiB compatibility was part of the tidy sum negotiated between Apple and local postman .
disregardless of the details of those agreements , it ’s no secret that many of the countries Apple is entering or plans to embark presently have more far-flung and mature 3 grand coverage than what ’s currently available in the U.S. ( Earlier this year , though , iPhone pardner AT&T announced it planned to dilate its 3 one thousand service to more U.S. city . )
“ It ’s a rude fit for a Cartesian product that ’s market on the lastingness of its internet presence , ” Rubin suppose . “ AT&T has also made pace in evolve its 3 G meshwork , so now would be a sensible time to introduce it . ”
A look at the calendar also adds fuel to the rumored update fire . June not only marks the first day of remembrance of the iPhone ’s launch , it also bring Apple ’s one-year Worldwide Developers Conference , where Steve Jobs traditionally delivers an opening move tonic . The iPhone figures to be a major focus at WWDC , since Apple has promised to present iPhone 2.0 package in June that will sum up native software to the handheld machine . WWDC begins in San Francisco on June 9 .
And that poses a challenge for Apple . The June 9 keynote is still several hebdomad off , meaning a potentially month - long spread between the disappearing of the current model from retail shelf and potential arrival of a new iPhone .
“ There is certainly some business about that , ” say NPD Group ’s Rubin . “ You do n’t want to be in a situation for too longsighted without available stock . Perhaps the benefit will be if they are not selling many older poser the day before a release , they will keep that buyers remorse to a minimum . ”
Indeed , Apple has been burn by such remorse in the recent past . The companionship cut the cost of the 8 GB iPhone by $ 200 in September 2007 , a minuscule more than two month after the phone ’s debut . After a precipitously negative chemical reaction from early adopter , Apple wound up offering a $ 100 deferred payment to people who bought the iPhone in its first two months of spillage .
Other possible intellect besides the forthcoming release of a Modern model could excuse the sudden shortage of iPhones . “ It ’s either constituent shortage or a calculated sell - off before another iPhone is inclose , ” tell Avi Greengart , Research Director for market research firm Current Analysis . “ It really might be a constituent dearth — that hap , although I ’m not aware of any issues of that type . ”
But when it come to Apple ’s explanation about in high spirits than wait requirement , the site does n’t seem to add up , analyst say . “ for certain there were some shortage issues during the initial dismissal , but nothing too severe , ” Rubin said . “ Supply has been logical since then and it would be strange to have a surge in demand at this point . ”
