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islandtitan

macrumors regular
I for one can't believe that neither Apple nor AT&T have addressed this issue with the consumer.

If nothing else, "We just didn't realize the demand and are working hard to satisfy all orders as quickly as possible".

I have sent two emails to AT&T and all I get back is "your phone is on backorder" - and these are no auto responses.
 

JonboyDC

macrumors regular
Jul 19, 2004
201
0
It's always possible that Apple is artificially limiting supply -- but I'm not aware of them ever doing that in the past. It's all well and good to argue that they should have predicted demand and prepared accordingly, but the only way they could have done that would be to pay for the development of new manufacturing capacity. And I don't think that's cost-effective in the long-term -- they need to be able to produce a certain number of phones over the next year or so, and trying to find ways to produce extra phones at the outset would require either involving additional suppliers, asking current suppliers to expand their facilities, or pushing their current suppliers to produce units more quickly. Any of these methods would seem to invite quality problems.

Nintendo, now, is a different matter -- two years in, it's clear that demand remains high for the Wii, and their failure to expand production can only be a deliberate attempt to artificially restrict supply. I think we can only accuse Apple of this if a few months go by and supply and demand don't start to align more closely.
 

NoOtherOne

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2008
31
0
Wilmington, Dela-where?
So now that we're out nation wide, does that mean the next batch will be the second build? Do you think things like light leaks and the yellow screen of death will be fixed?

I was wondering the same thing. If I knew that were the case, I wouldn't rush out Wednesday (the day I become eligible to upgrade) morning to try to snag one somewhere...
 

wronski

macrumors 6502
May 8, 2005
346
0
Any more details? where and when? I called stores in manhattan and they have not gotten any today, or atleast thats what they are saying

When I went to the raw data for the availability check late on Sunday and did a search for "true" (which means a single model is in stock) using Command-F in Safari it only revealed 5 results. Doing the same thing now produces "over 100" results. That's got to mean something.

http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/feeds/3g_us_inv.json

This does update fairly frequently as far as I know.
 

oban14

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2008
554
1
Apparently only three stores have the phone... 5th Ave, one in New Hampshire, and Pleasanton, CA. And apparently the word is direct fulfillment at AT&T is approaching 3+ weeks now.

I guess I don't feel like such an idiot for waiting four hours for my phone last Tuesday while passerbys sneered that they would wait a week and just walk in and get the phone when the demand died down!

I'd feel like an idiot for waiting in line. I placed my order at AT&T on the 11th, got my phone the following Thursday. The whole process took me 20 minutes or so.

It all depends how people value their time. I also heard of people waiting in line for 5 hours, and then still not getting an iPhone... how would you like to be one of those poor bastards? :rolleyes:
 

TimV

macrumors member
May 15, 2005
34
0
When I went to the raw data for the availability check late on Sunday and did a search for "true" (which means a single model is in stock) using Command-F in Safari it only revealed 5 results. Doing the same thing now produces "over 100" results. That's got to mean something.

http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/feeds/3g_us_inv.json

This does update fairly frequently as far as I know.

Looking at that link this morning it says my local store now has all three flavors in stock. They were sold out last night. Too bad I can't really leave work to go get one. :(
 

thesage007

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2008
10
0
Change your system time on PC/Mac to after 9 PM and you will be able to view the availability status. This updates during the day. so seems like "real time" with stores getting stocks through the day.
 

Diode

macrumors 68020
Apr 15, 2004
2,443
125
Washington DC
I for one can't believe that neither Apple nor AT&T have addressed this issue with the consumer.

If nothing else, "We just didn't realize the demand and are working hard to satisfy all orders as quickly as possible".

I have sent two emails to AT&T and all I get back is "your phone is on backorder" - and these are no auto responses.

What issue? You were told , depending on when it was preordered, that it would take 7~10 days (Now 10~21 days). The phones seem to be shipping within that time frame.

With demand like this you can't expect availability to appear overnight. In fact it seems their warehouses are receiving shipments daily. If there was a problem then this would not be the case.
 

Zengrok

macrumors newbie
Jul 10, 2008
28
0
At&t Direct Fulfillment wait as of Sunday was 14-21 days.
Maybe for a 16GB Black. I went to my AT&T store on Friday and ordered a white 16GB. It shipped today and I'll pick it up tomorrow. That's a pretty fast turn, only 2 business days. Sure, it might be 14 days for a phone in high demand, but the white 16GB's are pretty easy to get.

Considering the fact that on a daily basis, people are buying these phones without much of a wait, I believe what Apple is doing is spoon feeding delivery. Instead of shipping large quantities they are instead allocating shipments daily to better server all locations. Frustrating for some, but overall best in serving a global market.
 

viggen61

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2002
438
11
New Jersey
I'm buyin' your angle. I've believed this from 10:00am the day of release. The current shortage and way they "dribble" phone stocks to ATT has just verified it for me.

Do we actually know how AT&T stores get their stocks of iPhones? It's entirely possible that Apple ships a truckload or two to an undisclosed AT&T warehouse, and AT&T then ships to their stores. In that case, it's AT&T "dribbling" them to their own stores.

Just a thought!

:apple::apple:
 

w0ngbr4d

macrumors regular
Jan 10, 2006
217
1
Findlay, OH
simple solution...offer online ordering. phones ship directly to customers, no need to wait in line. they just have to do the contract a time of ordering, activation and number porting can be done through iTunes when the phone arrives.

still don't know why Apple hasn't figured this out yet...
 

MasonMI

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2007
152
0
I just ordered my 16GB 3G iphone in black tonight at the AT&T store since i didnt want to wait in line day after day at the Apple store i was told i would have my iphone in 10 to 21 days i am hoping sooner than the 21 days.
 

RNSheets

macrumors member
Jun 28, 2008
98
0
Columbia, Missouri
I just ordered my 16GB 3G iphone in black tonight at the AT&T store since i didnt want to wait in line day after day at the Apple store i was told i would have my iphone in 10 to 21 days i am hoping sooner than the 21 days.

I orded my 8GB yesterday and was told about 21 days. Got an email from ATT&T today giving me the link to track the iphone.

I can wait. :)
 

kellen

macrumors 68020
Aug 11, 2006
2,387
68
Seattle, WA
Just got my 16gb black today. Bellevue, WA had all three in stock. Previously was at the University Village location which only had 16GB white ones. Some girl in line called bellevue who said they 16GB black and 8gb black. I hightailed it over there.

Got one of the last 16GB in black, still had white and 8GB black. Total time was 3 hours, 99% spent in line. It seriously took him punching in my phone number, email and last 4 of my SSN and I was out. I was wondering what the line was for, seeing how it took me all of 5 minutes at the longest to get it done.

Great time waiting in line. People were rather jovial, with some good natured joking around. Seemed like an us vs them mentality. With us being the people waiting in line and the them being everyone who was giving us the weird looks.

Glad I got it and syncing right now! Yay, just got done!
 

agbot

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2007
143
0
Silicon Valley
Stock has reached many Apple Stores today.

I think this is the case with a decent number of stores. They get stock most days, then sell out that same day. You can change your system clock and load the iPhone Availability Tool during the day, and the stock updates throughout the day as the shipments arrive then the 3 models sell out one by one (at least with the stores I've had first hand knowledge of). If you only look at the stock at the end of every business day, it'll probably always look sold out.
 

Readma

macrumors newbie
Sep 3, 2007
23
0
I don't know what you all expect apple to do? In fact you all seem to think that apple owe you this? America in the last week and a half have seen 1,000,000+ units. Australia, New Zealand and the UK only saw 25,000 each and while i dont know about New Zealand and the UK, i know that we havn't recieved any extra stock since launch in Australia.

IMO waiting in line for 3 hours was well worth it.
 

MasonMI

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2007
152
0
If i were to get an iphone at the Apple store would i be able to cancel my DF order with AT&T?
 
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