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iPhone 3G Remains Hard to Find

No Wait

In the MacArthur Center Store, Norfolk (VA) there was no line yesterday, you could walk in, pick up phone, activate, and leave. They had 3-4 guys who were working hard, so there was not wait time really.

I give kudos to the Apple Employees in the Apple Store at Norfolk, VA. They are the best, professional, fun-loving group of guys and girls I have ever met and they make sure the customer is happy. The experience at this store in particular is better than any I have had at previous stores.

I am enjoying my 3G iPhone, and sold my 2G on ebay within 14 hours, for $335. After fees, it paid for my new phone.
 
HLdan said:
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.
Click to expand...

Um. Where in my post did it imply I don't understand the 'art of supply and demand'? Tell me where.

It's called sarcasm, professor economics. I don't need another lesson in it, I already took that economics 101 in college. O yeah, thanks for the Psych lesson too. Psych 101 failed to mention that I would "like things more if they were unavailable" but I guess that was taught in common sense 101. ;)

1. I can be mad. I'll be mad at anything I want. It doesn't mean I don't realize what's going on. Forgive me for expecting some things, like I don't know - stock, but I wouldn't expect any less than full fledged customer abuse by :apple: .

2. They sold a million because they sold the iPhone in more countries than 1. I don't know what the exact figure is exclusively in US (I've heard around 400k or something? I could be wrong).

Apple is maintaining demand and press for its flagship product by purposely limiting stock. It's a disgusting pattern, IMO - but everyone eats it up (including myself). However, again. It's only a matter of time till the other 29 (it was 21 states sold out right?) sell out, and we begin the 'get a little at a time' game that Nintendo and Microsoft played so well with the Wii and Xbox 360. In short, I'm rebutting everyone's comments of "stock with level off". It won't. At least not until everyone stops caring.
 
I just got my 16gb black yesterday at the apple store on Knox street in Dallas the iPhone stock page told me that the Knox store would only have 16gb whites, and that was true... For the most part.. When I was waiting in line I got a chance to see the white one... My god it looked cheap... So I was getting ready to leave (2nd in line) when one apple employee said they got a shipment of 16gb blacks! So naturally I bought one. So don't necisarily believe the iPhone stock page on the apple site...

Btw I love my phone :)
 
I wanted a Wii when they came out and for six months after that. . .but would not go wait in line or pay over MSRP on ebay. I ended up getting disgusted and looked at a PS3 and bought it. The blu-ray is cool and the games are great. I won't buy a Wii.

Will I do the same thing with the IPhone. . .probably not, if I can get one easily within a month fine. If this thing drags on for six months then no, I won't. Keep in mind that for the IPhone to kill the blackberry, corporations must be able to get them easily - as in send me 500 of them. This supply shortage thing and long lines is cool for us Apple fans and the teenagers waiting inline but, trust me on this, it is not cool for a Fortune 500 company looking to get them for their staff and could very easily result in corporations staying with blackberry or other such device.

I can just see the IT nerds now rejecting IPhone requests based on this shortage (if it continues).
 
No more shipments until...

My sales guy at the local AT&T store just said he got off a concall where they were told that no AT&T stores will receive any more shipments until all direct fulfillment orders are fulfilled.
 
My mistake.

min_t said:
Why you blaming at&t and apple.
Click to expand...

You're right. I should blame Dell and Verizon. My mistake.

If AT&T is selling phones using direct fulfillment, why didn't they just take pre-orders in the first place? At least then they would have had a better idea of demand.

I still contend that this product roll-out is a joke.

One detail I left out of my original post: I tried to call a local AT&T store to see if they had inventory but couldn't get past the touch-tone selections to speak to a real person. When I drove to the store, I found 12 people working but no phones in stock! Everyone was just standing around.

If there is a demand for the phones now, wait until it is unlocked for other service providers. The competitors will offer better rates, and everyone will be locked into two-year contracts with AT&T. Brilliant.
 
Difference between last year and this year.

The one thing that every body is forgetting about is that last year when Apple launched the iPhone 1st gen. It was done slowly with regional roll outs. First in North America, then in Europe, then in Asia. That was much easier to control the supply demand issues. This time around they are doing a world wide launch in all markets at the same time. Trying to keep up with supply demand on a world wide launch has got to be really difficult.

After reading about the new mandatory AT&T account activation in order to just be able to buy the iPhone 3G I predicted the lines would be crazy long this time around and supply would be low. I think it will be at least a month before supply catches up to demand and you can just easily walk into a Apple or AT&T store to pick one up.

If you want to hear my story of waiting in line for the iPhone 3G on launch day listen to the podcast here.

Tech Critiques Episode 83
 
cohibadad said:
I direct fulfilled 2 16GB Whites Friday evening and they arrived today. I totally agree with the previous poster who said the 2.0 FW is worth more than the hardware if you already have an old iphone. 3Gs are nice but don't stress.
Click to expand...

Mine did too, and I think a lot of them did come in within the last day or so, and for those who ordered the first day, it should probably arrive soon if it hasn't already. However, when I ordered I was told that it's shipping from their warehouse and it was in stock and so that's why it's 7-10 days. By the time I ordered, black was sold out of their warehouse so it was going to take them some time. She warned me that she wasn't sure when those were going to get here. I ended up ordering the white and so I got mine quickly. If their warehouse gets sold out I think they have to wait until they get more stock in their warehouse.. hopefully for everyone the stores and their warehouse get stock more.
 
dhclarke said:
My AT&T store let me order one-

We told them what I wanted and paid for it upfront. They said it should arrive in "7 to 10 business days."

I hope that the "shortage" does not have an effect on the arrival date. The sales associate did say that they are filling all of the orders that they are taking before they begin to replenish their stock.
Click to expand...

This is the same game they are playing here in Florida at the Spring Hill AT&T Store. I drive 40 minutes, order and in 7-10 days, drive another 40 minutes to pick it up,(and don't forget the 40 minutes ride home each way).All of that at $4.16 a gallon. As far as the Ocala and Orlando stores, they don't even answer their phones to give you the order option. I'll just keep the Razr another year;)
 
DeaconGraves said:
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.
Click to expand...

Well, I still think it was stupid. Having to wait a week - maybe a month - to get an iPhone seems less lame to me than camping overnight in a line. I went to my local store Saturday & saw a 90 minute line and walked away. And I could still buy an 8GB black or 16GB white phone there today, but I want the 16GB black.

I can't say I don't want one, but having to wait a few weeks hardly seems like a burden(not even enough that I'll buy the white one when I want the black one). In fact every month I wait saves me $100 or so in AT&T bills.
 
jlbrown23 said:
Well, I still think it was stupid. Having to wait a week - maybe a month - to get an iPhone seems less lame to me than camping overnight in a line. I went to my local store Saturday & saw a 90 minute line and walked away. And I could still buy an 8GB black or 16GB white phone there today, but I want the 16GB black.

I can't say I don't want one, but having to wait a few weeks hardly seems like a burden(not even enough that I'll buy the white one when I want the black one). In fact every month I wait saves me $100 or so in AT&T bills.
Click to expand...

My philosophy was similar - order one through an AT&T store, the one I really want...then go back home and sit by the pool. Much more fun then waiting in a line/running around to 1 of 8 Apple Stores in the area or however many AT&T stores there are....
 
acrafton said:
I wanted a Wii when they came out and for six months after that. . .but would not go wait in line or pay over MSRP on ebay. I ended up getting disgusted and looked at a PS3 and bought it. The blu-ray is cool and the games are great. I won't buy a Wii.

Will I do the same thing with the IPhone. . .probably not, if I can get one easily within a month fine. If this thing drags on for six months then no, I won't. Keep in mind that for the IPhone to kill the blackberry, corporations must be able to get them easily - as in send me 500 of them. This supply shortage thing and long lines is cool for us Apple fans and the teenagers waiting inline but, trust me on this, it is not cool for a Fortune 500 company looking to get them for their staff and could very easily result in corporations staying with blackberry or other such device.

I can just see the IT nerds now rejecting IPhone requests based on this shortage (if it continues).
Click to expand...

I think the iPhone is a whole different deal - you won't see shortages a month from now. No 2 year shortage like the Wii.

And speaking of the Wii, I did manage to get one(retail, no waiting, no eBay). A few months later I got an Xbox 360. Almost all Wii games are bad - the Xbox is 100X better, as is the PS3. You were better off getting the PS3 anyway, so waiting for the inferior Wii wouldn't have made sense. The same is NOT true with the iPhone. It IS the best product, and worth waiting for. I don't think it will kill the Blackberry for the same reason people use Windows - things get entrenched, and it is hard to dislodge them. But it will probably be the only other game in town, and the one all the Cool Kids want.
 
InTheWoodlands said:
My sales guy at the local AT&T store just said he got off a concall where they were told that no AT&T stores will receive any more shipments until all direct fulfillment orders are fulfilled.
Click to expand...

Just got back from an AT&T store and tried to order an iphone under direct fulfillment but was unable to. They aren't taking anymore direct fulfillment orders.
 
JPIndustrie said:
Apple is maintaining demand and press for its flagship product by purposely limiting stock.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true. Apple ran out first generation iPhones earlier this year because they committed all of their production capacity to the 3G. It seems to me they were trying to build as big a stockpile as possible so they could have a successful launch. Considering that Apple decided to go for such an ambitious initial distribution to so many countries, its no wonder demand is outstripping supply.
 
stillwater said:
I don't think that's true. Apple ran out first generation iPhones earlier this year because they committed all of their production capacity to the 3G. It seems to me they were trying to build as big a stockpile as possible so they could have a successful launch.
Click to expand...

Just because they ordered and built a large supply of phones doesn't mean they have to ship them out to stores to sell. It only means they can show analysts their orders and prove that they have the capability to meet demand, but in the end its ultimately up to Apple if and when they arrive at the stores.

stillwater said:
Considering that Apple decided to go for such an ambitious initial distribution to so many countries, its no wonder demand is outstripping supply.
Click to expand...

That's not the reason why there isn't any stock - that's not the reason why supply can not meet demand. They have the stock. They have the logistics to make it happen. They have warehouses all over the US, all over the world stocked with iPhones. ATT DF orders are being met, stories are being told of personally seeing these warehouses. They have the product. Why aren't they making their way to the stores?

It's simple economics. Milk the damn thing for as much press and demand we can get. One theory is they will open the flood gates to counteract the next big thing in phones (Blackberry Bold/Android/whatever) and to make sure the iPhone 3G is visible as a possible option when people actually have a chance to decide between jesusiphone and jesusBlackberryphone. Whatever. The point is, after this week and possibly next week, I doubt we'll see any replenishment on the same scale as the initial launch shipment.

What we'll see are a small amount trickling down to stores to maintain the frenzy and press for their flagship product.
 
HLdan said:
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.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I walked into two Apple stores here in San Diego over the weekend because I wanted to buy a case. They let you right in. There is a dedicated iPhone line, but everyone else can walk straight in.
 
Virginia Update

The McArthur Mall Store here in Norfolk, Va received a small shipment of 16GBW and 16GBB iPhones this morning and they were all gone by Noon. There was a line again this morning before opening.....
 
NYC Stores

Okay, I just called all three Manhattan NYC stores and they said they have iphones in stock.

But limited quantities (probably only have the white 16g) and all 3 said the wait was 4 hours.
 
Hmm...

I got my iPhone 3G on the second day. Went to line up at my local AT&T store at 7:20AM, store opened at 9AM and I walked away with one. I think I was 26th or 27th in line.
 
Still no luck here in NJ. :(

The ATT stores around me all put you into voicemail when you try to call. Yeah right, like they are going to call me back.

Apple stores in NJ are "red" on Apple's lame 9pm availability page. I call the Apple stores and they tell me to check the page. Does that mean if it's green I should go the following AM?

Getting frustrated...I really hope this doesn't turn into another Wii.
 
Stll Backordered

I checked the direct fulfillment order status again and my phone is still back ordered! I was the first person to order one when our store opened on Sunday, I can't imagine how long people are going to have to wait if they ordered on Monday or Tuesday!
 
Anyone Else Get This Text Message from AT&T

2674277171_54be9ab5d2.jpg


I went to the store after I got the txt and got my 8GB/Black with no problems yesterday. Definitely a rough buying experience, but well worth it!
 
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