iPhone 3G Remains Hard to Find

[angusshangus]

I got my 8GB 3G on friday... got in line at 6am. If i had arrived 10 minutes later i wouldn't have got one as only 5 more people after me got anything.

I've posted this on other forums but haven't gotten any replies... Why is the in-store activation necessary? Why don't they just force you to sign a contract w/ ATT then activate at home? Why would they care if you unlocked after you've signed a 2 year contract? With the activation issues on friday I left the store with a signed contract and an inactive phone, why doesn't apple/att just do this for everyone and then let the lines move faster?

 

[gmcbay]

I ordered mine at an AT&T store today. They expect it won't show up for 7-14 days but I'm ok with that. I'd rather wait a full two weeks than spend even 20 minutes in a line, especially when lining up is no guarantee of getting a phone.

A couple of less patient friends of mine have been in line multiple times already because the local Apple stores keep supposedly running out of 16gb iPhones on a daily basis.... wait in line for 2 hours, get near the front, hear that they're all out of 16gbs and to come back tomorrow, rinse repeat a few times. The iPhone is cool, but not THAT cool.

 

[HLdan]

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!

You don't quite understand the art of supply and demand. This may not apply to you in general but be honest, if you know of a forthcoming exciting product release but held off going for it in order to avoid the long lines, then you go into the store to get one but the stores are all sold out it will spark your interest even more to pursue getting it.

Now on the reverse, if after your visit to the store you discover that they have tons of stock and people that waited in line wasted their time you would most likely hold off buying it because it's too easy to get. That's the way this world is, we all WANT what we CAN'T get. As soon as it's easy to get we lose interest.

Now you can't be mad that Apple ran out of stock on iPhones, be realistic, they sold over million iPhones over the weekend. But supply and demand will keep the lines forming and that's good business, that's why Nintendo's Wii console is #1.

 

[jamrob98]

Clusterf***

The iPhone roll-out has been nothing short of a clusterf***. I have tried four times to buy a phone and been unsuccessful: On Friday, at a local AT&T store, they ran out of inventory just a few people ahead of me; on Sunday, at the local Apple store, my sale was terminated because I have an AT&T account with a discount on it (I was told I would need to buy directly from the store). On two subsequent visits to different AT&T locations, I have been told they are sold out and hope to replenish pre-orders in 10-15 days.

I am a long-time Mac user (and defender!), but this experience is leaving me with a very bad taste in my mouth. Too little inventory and too little customer service ... a bad combination for business.

 

[gmcbay]

You don't quite understand the art of supply and demand. This may not apply to you in general but be honest, if you know of a forthcoming exciting product release but held off going for it in order to avoid the long lines, then you go into the store to get one but the stores are all sold out it will spark your interest even more to pursue getting it.

Now if after your visit to the store you discover that they have tons of stock and people that waited in line wasted their time you would most likely hold off buying it because it's too easy to get. That's the way this world is, we all WANT what we CAN'T get. As soon as it's easy to get we lose interest.

Now you can't be mad that Apple ran out of stock on iPhones, be realistic, they sold over million iPhones over the weekend. But supply and demand will keep the lines forming and that's good business, that's why Nintendo's Wii console is #1.

Your post is mostly bullcrap. A certain amount of line-waiting at the beginning of a product launch is good because it generates PR, but if it lasts too long it just causes frustration. I want the iPhone because it is the only Internet-enabled phone out there where the internet features aren't a total joke. If I thought Google/T-Mobile had any chance of releasing an Android phone soon I probably would have waitied for that but I'm pretty convinced it will be delayed and delayed again. The fact that a million plus other people want an iPhone 3G didn't color my decision at all, in fact it just makes me wish there were a viable competitor so I could just walk in and buy their phone instead. Ditto the reason people buy Wiis is fantastic word of mouth from casual game players they know who own them, not because they are impossible to find.

 

[michaelsaxon]

Yes, this has been a fiasco. Washington has not had them since Sunday, and on that day there were only a few.

Funny thing is, I looked at California and was both amazed at the numbers of Apple Stores and also the number that still have inventory considering most of the rest of the country is picked clean.

 

[radiogod69]

Just do direct fullfillment, thats what I did for my 16gb version. I have an 8gb version now because I couldn't wait now someone else that I know wants one so I ordered 16gb black at an ATT store. Mall of America Apple at approx 3pm today said they had 8gb black & 16gb white in stock only.

 

[alexacker]

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

Funniest thing I heard all day.

 

[RumorHasIt....]

News To Me

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.

Agreed. I live in Minnesota and all 4 Apple stores have no inventory (at least, when I called). It's nice to know that I am not alone!

 

[Veri]

It's not what they're failing to report, it's that they're reporting too much.

No longer a side project, Macrumors will probably more aggressively target for pageviews. Recent news on MobileMe updater, Apple design VP change, pro updates, Snow Leopard seed(!)... all on Page 2.

Slashdot, the original.. err.. Slashdot-style site, tackled the mainstreamification by allowing for filtering on story categories. And now user story submissions are votable for/against before editor approval via a "Firehose". I prefer a more user-centric voting system, but I would like to see more implementations along the lines of "give me stories voted up by the same people who vote up the stories I have voted for / stories similarly categorised or authored". Voting would be on topic/quality, of course, not on whether news is good/bad. When the algorithm gets it wrong, I'd make sure to tell it, just like a learning spam classifier.

But supermarkets want to make you walk through the snack aisle to get to the fruit .

 

[Rhalliwell1]

Simple economics

This is just simple economics, The price isn't currently set where supply hits demand and as a result we have excess demand.

How to solve:

- Increase production (i am sure apple would if they could.)
- Increase price.

I think apple have got the price wrong again....

How is the stock outside of the US?

 

[Epix]

Wow, still lines. I guess I got lucky walking up 30 min before opening on Friday and walking out with a 16GB and hour later.

 

[Ryan5505]

Online Inventory

I would not rely on the online retail inventory for individual stores. The ones in NC showed inventory, but I called before making the drive and was told there is an issue with the software. Call before you drive over to a store.

 

[cenetti]

people have no life.. that's what it is..
no gf, no job, no friends, no life... waiting for hours just to get a 'phone'....

you want an iphone?
Go to your AT&T store and order one. It takes about a week. Not 2yrs, 10yrs.. ONE WEEK!...

Order one today, next week, you'll have it. What's the big fkin deal?

 

[the vj]

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 got tired two months ago. I am sick of the iPhone because of Macrumors, too much is too much.

 

[26139]

yeah....

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.

I officially laugh at all of those who stood in line for a PHONE.

Seriously, I know it's cool, but come on.

 

[sam10685]

Yeah... There's still a line to get into the Apple store in Pioneer Place in Portland OR. All i want is one of the 29 dollar wall chargers for my ipod. this ipone junk is really starting to annoy me.

Edit; I don't do 3rd party stuff like that. it always seems to mess up my thing.

 

[26139]

yep

The iPhone roll-out has been nothing short of a clusterf***. I have tried four times to buy a phone and been unsuccessful: On Friday, at a local AT&T store, they ran out of inventory just a few people ahead of me; on Sunday, at the local Apple store, my sale was terminated because I have an AT&T account with a discount on it (I was told I would need to buy directly from the store). On two subsequent visits to different AT&T locations, I have been told they are sold out and hope to replenish pre-orders in 10-15 days.

I am a long-time Mac user (and defender!), but this experience is leaving me with a very bad taste in my mouth. Too little inventory and too little customer service ... a bad combination for business.

I agree. The in-store activation and subsequent issues with said activation combined with complications regarding current contracts is ridiculous.

I honestly wish they had not chosen to subsidize the damn thing.

 

[dawnrazor]

Mean while in other parts of the globe, iPhones are sold out and not expected to be in stock again until mid August.... hmmm just enough time to create a second wave of consumer frenzy, great can't wait. Suppose it wouldn't look good if they DIDN'T sell out in the first few days, 'cus to be honest thats a real boring headline.

'NEWS FLASH - iPHONE 3G DOESN'T SELL OUT, PLENTY OF STOCK AVAILABLE'


"Oh, I'm gona get me one of those babies...."

I'm just bitter, 'cus I didn't bother to get one in the first wave and now that they are sold out I want one.

 

[dgouldin]

I ordered "direct fulfillment" at an AT&T store on Friday and am picking my phone up from the store today. 4 day turnaround time including a weekend ... not bad at all.

 

[AppleMojo]

It's not what they're failing to report, it's that they're reporting too much. The thing that made this site so great is its focus, if you start to dilute the focus with too much other stuff then the site's quality goes down. Just look at google's success. The thing that makes google great is what they *don't* put on their front page. Any good site will act like a filter so that only the stuff that's really what the site is about will be on the front page of that site. 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.

Errr... you don't have to click on the news article, and you don't have to comment. I'd prefer you didn't if that helps.

 

[HLdan]

Your post is mostly bullcrap. A certain amount of line-waiting at the beginning of a product launch is good because it generates PR, but if it lasts too long it just causes frustration. I want the iPhone because it is the only Internet-enabled phone out there where the internet features aren't a total joke. If I thought Google/T-Mobile had any chance of releasing an Android phone soon I probably would have waitied for that but I'm pretty convinced it will be delayed and delayed again. The fact that a million plus other people want an iPhone 3G didn't color my decision at all, in fact it just makes me wish there were a viable competitor so I could just walk in and buy their phone instead. Ditto the reason people buy Wiis is fantastic word of mouth from casual game players they know who own them, not because they are impossible to find.

I'll return the complement, your post is bullcrap. There are several competitors, Sprint has an iPhone knockoff, Verizon has an iPhone knockoff. You don't REALLY need an iPhone, you just want one. There are other alternatives with much better rate plans than AT&T.

Oh, don't blame Apple for long lines, remember people have a CHOICE. It's your CHOICE to create a line and stand in it for a long time. It's also your CHOICE to a take a risk standing in a long line only to find out later that the store's have ran out of stock, nobody is forcing you, it's a CHOICE.

 

[Xenious]

What has made this launch have a dark side is the lines caused by activation. Last year I bought an iPhone the day after launch day with no wait. They of course had plenty of stock as well.

What I would have done:
Launch v2 software for original iPhone's on Thursday - gives the servers a good test run and avoids day 1 3G sales
No in-store activation for existing AT&T customers - overseas they got to just pop them SIM card in, are we that ignorant here?

Those two things alone would have helped with lines and kept sales going faster.

The current situation did have one success: Apple can point to AT&T and say how troublesome the in-store activation is. Now if we could just say how troublesome activation is all around and remove it.

What continues to puzzle me is why there are still lines this far after the launch and where are these people coming from during the day? I mean seriously does no one work anymore? Which leads to another question: how are these being sold on ebay? Are people actually signing up for a 2 year contract just so they can resell an iphone? Of course its a free market and the person buying it from an ebay reseller is just as much to blame as the ebay reseller for perpetuating the situation, but that's some baaaad karma man.

One step away from the super evil of buying scarce toys with resell intent instead of leaving them for kids around xmas time.

 

[Jay Cowan]

Empty Delivery Trucks, inaccurate availability postings on Apple

I stopped by the San Francisco Chestnut Street Apple store this afternoon. Although they had "plenty" of 8GB and only a dozen or so of 16GB phones early yesterday morning (Monday 14 July), they were 100% out today. Worse, this time the delivery truck arrived today with NO restock of iPhones. The rep thought some would come in tomorrow....

What was really interesting was the rep's comment that Apple's website was not really accurate when it showed phones in stock at this store last night. It seems that the customer registration software is flawed, and if one little mistake is made during customer setup/registration, the phone must be returned to Apple and another phone must be pulled from stock to start the whole registration over. You guessed it: the Apple POSIM system does not register the "sale" of this returned phone, so it still shows the returned phone in stock, and the Apple website shows it still in the store at 9PM that night...

Hopefully someone will fix this.

Jay

 

[HLdan]

Yeah... There's still a line to get into the Apple store in Pioneer Place in Portland OR. All i want is one of the 29 dollar wall chargers for my ipod. this ipone junk is really starting to annoy me.

Edit; I don't do 3rd party stuff like that. it always seems to mess up my thing.

I find that hard to believe that Apple won't allow any customers in the store unless they wait in line even if they are not buying and activating an iPhone. Am I correct in what you are saying? I live in San Francisco and that's one of Apple's flagship stores and there's currently a long line outside for the iPhone but the customers can freely walk in and buy iPhone accessories and Mac computers.