With recent Apple blockbusters like all the iPhones and the iPad, there’s been a useful secret shopping tip: If you wanted a product pronto but had an inexplicable resistance to waiting in a bizarrely long line, you could wait until early evening on launch day and then stroll into an Apple Store. By then, the throngs had dispersed, and the shelves were still well-stocked with shiny new gadgets.

(You could also order online and avoid a shopping trip altogether, of course, but I’ve always been impressed by the retail buyers who could resist temptation for just a few hours in return for hassle-free buying…)

With the iPhone 4, apparently, it’s not going to be like that. The phone is debuting on June 24th, but the black model is sold out for weeks, and the white one still hasn’t gone on sale at all:

Of course, it says the phone will ship by July 14th, so there’s some chance Apple will catch up with demand more quickly than that. But I wonder if it’s going to feel like there’s a great worldwide iPhone shortage for awhile?

 
3 Comments


Read more: Apple, Apple. iPhone, Shopping