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iPhone 3Gs in Short Supply ...
(21 Jul 2008, BWCS Staff)The supply of Apple's iconic new 3G iPhone handsets seems to have fallen dramatically over the last two days, amid reports that the company has "misjudged" demand for the new phone. According to reports in Computerworld magazine Apple's own inventory tool showed that fewer than 9% of its own stores had any phones to sell yesterday. Reports in German business magazine Focus implied that the company is not expecting major new shipments until October, though this has yet to be confirmed from any source.
Computerworld said that by yesterday only 16 of Apple's American retail outlets, or 8.5% of its 188 stores, were showing that they had iPhone 3Gs for sale. The magazine claimed this figure is steeply down from three days ago when 27% of Apple stores still had the new handsets for sale. Even the flagship Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York has apparently run short of some of the models. Meanwhile, AT&T, the phone company launching the new model in the US, had reportedly run out of iPhone 3G stock in its 1,200 retail outlets as early as Tuesday of last week.
It could be several weeks before supplies arrive to bolster the shops, leaving the question, did Apple under-estimate demand or is it all part of a carefully controlled ploy to increase customer demand?
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