iPhone 3G Remains Hard to Find

[Twinkie]

Great.

Another Wii on our hands. Soon we will hear the excuse "Jobs: We completely underestimated demand!" or some other lie similar to what Nintendo said.

YES! Another victory for the consumer!

Doubtful.

The scarcity of the Wii is perpetuated by the people who want one, and that it is incredibly easy to resell.

Case in point: I noticed three Wii systems at Target a couple of weeks ago. I kicked around buying them all to flip on eBay, but saw that the prices have tapered off enough that after taxes, shipping, eBay / PayPal fees, what I'd make wasn't worth the hassle.

In December, I sold 4 of them on eBay, at prices ranging from $270 to $590 (and several more at cost to friends, family, and co-workers).

If a seller can easily buy an item to resell, and a buyer is willing to pay a substantial premium, the cycle will go on forever.

With the iPhone, I can't walk in to an Apple Store, flash my AmEx and buy their stock. And all of the half-cocked theories about getting one in the US at $199 / $299 without getting locked in to a contract or ETF are surely destined to fail, not to mention, more trouble than they're worth.

 

[wheezy]

I think the wait on direct fulfillment is just a few days. I live in a no/low stock state (Utah) which is sad as half my siblings and mom are waiting to upgrade. One did get lucky at the Salt Lake Apple Store and was able to buy an 8GB on Monday morning just by showing up at open. That was after I showed up at an ATT Store by home for him at 7am to wait in line for an hour only to have an ATT rep come out and say they have none until the shipment shows up sometime that day. I called him and said no go and he ran off to the Apple Store and got lucky.

At this point I'd take your luck at an Apple Store versus at ATT retail outlet. I'm glad I was able to get the 2.0 update for mine though, it's curbed my want for 3G for now, at least until stock stabilizes.

 

[OneMike]

I like iPhone just as much as the next person, but even if hard to find I can't agree with anyone that says it paid off to stand in line from 3AM or so on launch day.

Only way it would pay off is if it was a limited item where after they were gone they were gone for good.

I'm more leaning towards upgrading to 3G, but If I do get I'll wait till I can just walk in store and get it.

 

[JoeDRC]

I'm so glad I got up early to queue outside my local O2, part from having an amazing phone, stuff like this makes it even better :]

 

[dacreativeguy]

Why don't all those people in line just give up and go buy a Wii.

 

[shadowbox]

I live outside New York City. Apple Store Palisades has been out of all phones since Sunday evening. Apple Store Westchester has been out of all phones except 16GB White since Saturday afternoon. I have heard people say that Apple stores are getting shipments everyday, but the last two nights the Apple availability chart has shown these two stores to be out of stock.

Unless the Apple stores withhold all iPhones that are delivered during the day and only update their available stock the following morning, the availability chart won't be accurate since a store could show no availability at 9pm, get some delivered the following afternoon and they could all be gone by that evening. I know its a drag for Apply Store employees to answer hundreds of phone calls throughout the day but what else are buyers supposed to do?

 

[JPIndustrie]

Doubtful.

The scarcity of the Wii is perpetuated by the people who want one, and that it is incredibly easy to resell.

OK. So is the iphone. Did you count the people on line, or what?

Case in point: I noticed three Wii systems at Target a couple of weeks ago. I kicked around buying them all to flip on eBay, but saw that the prices have tapered off enough that after taxes, shipping, eBay / PayPal fees, what I'd make wasn't worth the hassle.

In December, I sold 4 of them on eBay..

If a seller can easily buy an item to resell, and a buyer is willing to pay a substantial premium, the cycle will go on forever.

OK. But your statement implies there was a time when the Wii was profitable to purchase and resell. The Wii's time has passed. The iPhone 3G's time is just beginning. Type in craigslist.com and go to the NYC section. There's already a few iPhone 3G's on there with exorbitant prices.

With the iPhone, I can't walk in to an Apple Store, flash my AmEx and buy their stock. And all of the half-cocked theories about getting one in the US at $199 / $299 without getting locked in to a contract or ETF are surely destined to fail, not to mention, more trouble than they're worth.

That doesn't matter. People will pay anything to have the latest and greatest if they really want to. How much were unlocked 1st gen iPhones going for? TMobile peeps were buying them for $500/$600 a pop. Now that the iPhone requires a contract, they have to factor in ETF's. Google unlocked phones, they cost quite a bunch - the iPhone has just joined their ranks.

My point is. This is basic supply and demand. This is basic 21st century electronics marketing. This is a pattern thats repeated itself over and over. With the PS2, then the Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and now the iPhone.

 

[FreeState]

Macrumors front page is NOT just about anything that happens regarding Apple, just take a look at the page 2 stories right now to see.

As an investor and an avid Apple fan - this article is important and news worthy to me. Arn does an excellent job IMO of putting page two articles on well, page two.

 

[FightTheFuture]

This is nowhere near as bad as the Wii (yet). The iPhone has been out for less than a week, while the Wii is impossible to find almost two years later.

Inventory will stable out eventually, just like last year.

the only thing harder to find than the wii is wii fit. i'm a little miffed cause i missed my chance to preorder on amazon.

i think what we're seeing with the demand for the iPhone 3G is either the buyers who wanted to wait for the dust to settle over launch weekend, or are people who have been drooling over the iPhone since it launched last year. either way this is going to be good for Apple. especially after all of the stories of the activation and server problems have faded away.

 

[MPC]

Laugh?

With all apologies to those who are legitimately having stock woes (i.e. UK customers and U.S. customers who don't have an Apple store within an hour of them), I now officially laugh at all of those who thought it was stupid to go get in line hours before hand.

No, I still laugh at people dumb enough to spend all or part of a day waiting in line to buy something that they'll be able to walk in and get within another week or two. Way to help Apple create some hype...Gee, I wonder why this release of the iPhone required a 15 minute (minimum) in store activation process...maybe because it would create lines for the product around the country for a week after product launch?

 

[f(A)t'kId]

Apple store at Gateway

I think the wait on direct fulfillment is just a few days. I live in a no/low stock state (Utah) which is sad as half my siblings and mom are waiting to upgrade. One did get lucky at the Salt Lake Apple Store and was able to buy an 8GB on Monday morning just by showing up at open. That was after I showed up at an ATT Store by home for him at 7am to wait in line for an hour only to have an ATT rep come out and say they have none until the shipment shows up sometime that day. I called him and said no go and he ran off to the Apple Store and got lucky.

At this point I'd take your luck at an Apple Store versus at ATT retail outlet. I'm glad I was able to get the 2.0 update for mine though, it's curbed my want for 3G for now, at least until stock stabilizes.

They have quite a few 16 GB down there. Sold out of the 8 GB earlier today. I was just down there. Crazy there is still a line out in front of the store.

 

[lcm123]

As an investor and an avid Apple fan - this article is important and news worthy to me. Arn does an excellent job IMO of putting page two articles on well, page two.

Me too, everyday since the launch of 3g iphone, i've looked forward to seeing reports about how the rest are still waiting and getting in line to buy the iphone, it's a joy to hear, not that i'm not excited to hear about any other apple rumor stories

 

[jamoses66]

No, I still laugh at people dumb enough to spend all or part of a day waiting in line to buy something that they'll be able to walk in and get within another week or two. Way to help Apple create some hype...Gee, I wonder why this release of the iPhone required a 15 minute (minimum) in store activation process...maybe because it would create lines for the product around the country for a week after product launch?

I figured by today things would balance out, but in Atlanta at least only the very large Lenox Mall store has stock today, and when I went down there the line was 250 strong (at an estimated wait of 8hrs) and they had it "capped for the day" around 11:30am so that everyone in line could actually get a phone. The manager said that people were lining up at 5:30am and by 7 am there were 200 people (the store does not open until 9). How people have that kind of time is beyond me. I want one, but I'll wait it out.

-J

 

[Rocketman]

cite:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/517057/

post 271

July 11, 9:55am:

The internet, and large company server farms, are not ready for large scale international software centric rollouts yet.

All I can say is thank goodness Apple highly crippled initial product supplies to insanely small unit numbers per location, or it would actually be worse.

Anybody want to guess how long it will take to reach product sales "equilibrium"?

I say 2-3 weeks.

Rocketman

July 25 to August 1 was the prediction.

 

[SirOmega]

I'm waiting to the end of the month to get mine. If Apple and AT&T can get their stuff together and start processing more activations (and get up to 100 ppl/hr) then I'll get one. I stood in line for 9 hrs last year, thats enough line sitting for me for a while.

 

[ogdogg]

My girlfriend has been begging me to get her one of these but I can't for the life of me find one. Everyday I call every Apple/AT&T store in my area and everyday it's the same thing. I think I may have to just go down to the store and order one. I fear all hope of making an in-store purchase has diminished.

 

[oldwatery]

I am so tired of mundane iphone stories on the front page. I love ya macrumors, but please put these stories where they belong, on the 2nd page or dedicated iphone page.

I agree.
And actually I'm tired of iPhone stories period.
Isn't it time to give the phone it's own page/site/something.
Where is the Mac in MacRumors lately?

 

[stockcerts]

I'm a little surprised that Apple wasn't more prepared for these type of sales records. Initially when the Iphone was announced many of us thought the phones would go on sale almost right away, but it was a month before product release. I thought the reason was to ramp up production, and get the stock in the distribution chain.

I got mine on the 11th, so I'm happy. Hopefully the rest of you will get yours soon.....good luck!

 

[izzle22]

No biggie, the 2.0 update was worth more than the hardware. The App store is addictive. I can wait a bit longer to hand AT&T + Apple more of my money. No regrets for not waiting in line. I still think you all were nuts, especially if you had a v1 phone.

I agree with you 100% I have 1st gen iPhone as well and in no hurry to get iPhone 3g. I will eventually purchase it but no need with the app store. I still have a while to go before I've gotten the full $400 value out of my first phone.

 

[forgetaboutpro]

Remind me; what did we used to blog about before the iphone?

 

[Aznsensation45]

hopefully?

hopefully, they'll have it in stock by next wed. so i can get one. (that's when my upgrade eligibility kicks in)

 

[alphaod]

Interesting. I waited in line on Friday, a lot phones. I checked on Saturday, a lot of phones left; I checked on Sunday--guess what, a lot of phones left...

 

[VideoShooter]

Palo Alto, CA University Avenue store is sold out.

I have to imagine they will focus some stock here... Stanford, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft - all down the road.

Line hasn't been shorter than 90 minutes since it was released.

 

[FreeState]

I agree with you 100% I have 1st gen iPhone as well and in no hurry to get iPhone 3g. I will eventually purchase it but no need with the app store. I still have a while to go before I've gotten the full $400 value out of my first phone.

Me too. I'm waiting for either a 5mgp camera and/or 32+gb

 

[gretafour]

Second

I am so tired of mundane iphone stories on the front page. I love ya macrumors, but please put these stories where they belong, on the 2nd page or dedicated iphone page.

I second that. iPhone = Apple, iPhone ≠ Mac.