Tuesday, March 25, 2008 -- 10 p.m. -- at my desk

Earlier this afternoon, I received an e-mail from caller Marc asking me if I thought there was anything to the fact that there were no iPhones to be found at New York City Apple stores.

And I told him that I didn't and I chalked it up to popularity.

And mostly I still do.

Except upon further examination of the online Apple store, it's a 5 to 7 day wait for shipping for either iPhone.

So what exactly is going on? Did Apple just run out?

I don't know. I don't think there's any imminent release of a new iPhone model coming right now. And I know that the 16GB model has been hard to find for a while -- specifically in parts of Europe.

So I'm just putting this news out there because it's newsworthy, not because I see something amazing coming immediately. This wouldn't be as interesting if the online Apple store wasn't showing the wait time.

If anyone else has any kind of information regarding stock anywhere -- in U.S. stores, European stores, AT&T stores -- any stores, let me know.

Of course, I'll be following this as we go and if there's any late breaking news, well, you'll know.

Thanks for calling.

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Does seem a bit strange, doesn't it? Is demand that much ahead of their expectations for them to get caught short like that for both phones? Makes you wonder a little.....

SCOTT'S REPLY: Just a little. Check out the latest post.

I knew if there was something going on, you would know! I'm about 40 minutes from NYC and will definitely check with my local store tomorrow. Did anyone check local ATT stores? How about Chicago? How's their stock?

It's interesting though. If Apple is shooting for 10 million iPhones by the end of the year, the stores should be well stocked & not empty despite popularity.

Hopefully callers will check their local stores and let eveyone know how local stock is.

The only reason I could think of for empty shelves, barring a new product would be a problem with importing.

Oh where, oh where is my crystal ball???? :-)

SCOTT'S REPLY: Not to get anyone's hopes unnecessarily up, but the latest post should interest some folks.

Maybe Apple simply under estimated sales during this quarter.
Although the economy is taking a bit of a beating, perhaps the sales of iPhones isn't.

Both models are shipping within 24 hours from the UK online store.

SCOTT'S REPLY: It could very well be a gap in shipping. Very, very possible. If that's all it is, it's a bad time with all this 3G talk.

Another data point: I just recently purchased a 16GB at the Pleasanton, California Apple Store and it looked like they had about 4 of the 16GB iPhones left. But they had what looked like 40 8GB. I wonder whether the shipping delay is an attempt to lure folks into their stores (immediate gratification -- who doesn't want it?). It's a great opp to introduce the entire Apple line to those for whom their iPhone is their first Apple product. And these iPhone purchasers probably have the disposable income and interest in design, quality, etc that would make other Apple products interesting to them.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Interesting take! Could be a post in here somewhere.

My first idea was that possibly the SDK development has increased the demand for iPhones. I've read that once an iPhone is selected for development use, it is no longer able to function fully as a phone. If it was me and I wanted to create programs for the iPhone, I would have to consider purchasing another just for development. Who can part from their iPhone that long? Of just more companies are in the need for an iPhone to program...

SCOTT'S REPLY: You are correct, Dan. When you sign/load the software for SDK development, your phone turns into a development phone. So that could certainly be it. Or at least an important part of it.

Hi,

The UK store is still listing them as shipping within 24 hours.

Could it be that recently they have been pushing all the iPhones to the new countries and left the US with short supply.

I can't see them shipping a 3G version at the moment, why would they spend the extra building the 3G device when they can ship the current version for the same money. They'll save the 3G version for when demand is lower to help push it back up again.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I agree, Jacob. I really don't think the 3G iPhone order/story/whatever is linked to any immediate shipment. But the timing of said report, if true, is certainly interesting.

Respectly
I want to khnow how i can buy the last product of
iphone?by internet.how much is the price?how i can get it?and when ?
please reply me

SCOTT's REPLY: It all depends on what country you are in, Hadi. The iPhone is not normally available online. You could try ebay or another marketplace site for an iPhone, but I would need some more information from you to better reply -- what country you are writing from, which kind of iPhone you want, etc.

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