why do they not make more than enough? surely this phone is not that damn difficult to make since basically it's the same damn design as the last...do they just like the sound of "sold out"?
Trust me, they make every possible one they can sell.
Do the math, and it starts to make more sense. Assume it takes one minute on an assembly line to make one iPhone. That's 1440 iPhones per line per 24 hours. Some will fail inspections, so I dunno, say it's 1400 per line per day.
OK, say they have 60 days to be making them. That's 84,000 per line.
Say they have ten lines going for 60 days, that's 840,000 iPhones, which for all we know is close to what they had for themselves and the three carriers for pre-orders.
My numbers are way off, but really I'm trying to make more of a point -- it actually does take time and energy to make this darn many of a pretty complex electronic gadget. There are major constraints on various elements of the device -- processors, screens, other various chips, cases, etc. There are thousands of components after all, and not having enough of any ONE of them will keep the device from being made.
Apple is selling more smartphones of a single model than any other manufacturer by FAR. It's a challenge, a legitimate challenge, to keep up with demand. In fact, since the first iPhone and iPad went on sale, they essentially have NOT been able to keep up with total demand, globally.
