Oh please. This is exactly what it looks like :
- Limit initial pre-order quantities to "sell out quick" and show back log on the website. Continue taking in pre-orders to claim record numbers !
- Lines form on the scare that there's actually a risk of not getting a handset.
- After all the media hype, lines, etc.., release stock for shipping since there's no value in holding back anymore, you've had your free publicity.
People who still don't get these manufactured "shortages" are scary. Maps and scratching have nothing to do with it. Apple will announce record numbers again for this launch. They were ready with record numbers of units pre-manufactured and ready to go.
Nice conspiracy theory but it doesn't make any sense.
Suggesting Apple were sitting on millions of iPhones, worth billions of dollars, purely to make consumers think there is a shortage is crazy. A product shortage doesn't make more people want to buy it, it's more likely they'll say I'm not waiting 4 weeks for an iPhone I'll get an Android instead. Selling more of a product gets the cash in your bank account quicker and will increase sales through word of mouth.
There are far more likely explanations such as they got the mix between online and retail sales wrong and have now reallocated stock, or that they didn't have the logistics in place to handle the volume of online sales and have now put it in place.
Think most people don't grasp the logistic complexities of releasing a new product in the volume levels Apple deal with. You can't just pick up the phone and ask UPS to collect a few millions parcels from China and deliver them all over the world within the next 3 days. Especially when you don't know the exact volume and it could be a million or two either way.