The Case of the Disappearing iPhones
This is a strange story: According to various sources, most Apple stores in the country are newly out of iPhones. While you can order them from the Apple Store with 5-7 day delivery, you can't get them in stores.
Just to fact-check this a little, I made a few calls myself. I talked to six southern California Apple stores, and here is the gist:
- No iPhones at any of these six stores
- Most ran out Friday/Saturday
- They don't know when they will get more, so "just keep calling"
- It hasn't happened before
This is tough one to figure. Strikes me that one of three things is going on:
- Apple has a component issue and is doing a quiet recall
- Apple has a supply issue with a major sole-source supplier
- Apple is set to do a surprise launch of a 3G phone
I can't think of any other explanation, and none of these are very palatable. Even option 3), which would be nice, is disconcerting in the face of Apple unable to sell iPhones in-store for 4-ish days now. Anyone have any other ideas here?
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