Apple out of juice? Company denies iPhone drought
- 30 July, 2009 16:36
- Comments 12
Apple Australia has denied there is an iPhone 3GS drought despite several of its major telco partners running short on supplies.
Telstra’s official website has posted a notice which states: “There is currently a global shortage of iPhone models, and we are out of stock of some models”. Customers can register to be notified by email once there is new stock.
Apple has refuted the notice by the telco. An Apple spokesperson has stated that the vendor is experiencing some shortage but has continued to ship the iPhone 3GS and partners are still receiving stock. Meanwhile, it is business as usual for the company’s online portal, where the phone is still advertised as available.
Optus and its wholly owned subsidiary, Virgin, are also facing a shortage. Both have an [[xref:http://www.virginmobile.com.au/iphone |out of stock sign|new]] on their websites and Optus has said only the 8GB iPhone 3G is still available. The company has advised that some retail outlets may still carry old stock and recommends customers to call their local Optus shop to find out.
A Vodafone spokesperson said the company is in the same predicament as its competitors but refused comment on whether the vendor was to blame. It will continue to capture customer details and will work on a first in first serve basis. Registered customers will be contacted directly once stocks are replenished.
For customers who have already placed an order for the phone, Vodafone will be taking a case-by-case approach. Depending on an individual’s contract terms – existing or migrating – the company may offer credit to compensate for the delay.
Vodafone’s sister company, 3, launched the iPhone 3GS two weeks ago and has limited stock of the product.
Earlier this month, Apple took the route of selling the iPhone through its online store, a potentially damaging move for resellers.
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Comments
joel
Apple
That is *&%$ up that Apple is denying that it is a shortage because it is!!! and a major one. I have been trying to get one for weeks because my phone broke and NEED a new one (for my job and the other phone that I’m using now in not much better. I’ll save you the some story lol.) However I was willing to wait what I thought would be 1 MAYBE 2 week but I was majorly wrong it was more like 1 month to 1 month and 2 weeks, this is what Telstra told me and that “We are currently out of all iPhone 3G S models” and that “it is because of the global shortage and no one has any” (meaning other service providers and give up trying to call other places because you will not find one) that is what Telstra told me on Wednesday 22/7/09.
Trevor Clarke
Apple's resellers still on the outer
I wonder if this situation would be worse if Apple allowed its resellers to get in on the lucrative iPhone 3GS pie.
Anonymous
Apple 3gs
With the apple 3GS, they do have enough stock for NEW accounts, but none for the UPGRADES that to me is bad.
Anonymous
Optus also has the 16Gb 3G available via its website for personal customers only. But the offer ends today.
Anonymous
Plenty Of Stock?
In the last week, I as a reseller purchased 20 handsets off the Apple web site and all were delivered (albeit a little slowly).
Oh and by the way Apple, thanks a whole lot (NOT) for making resellers buy them from your online store and not giving us access via Express Online and Brightpoint.
At least you can buy them unlocked now, at least Apple have some intelligence.
ThreeUser
Iphone 3gs on Three
I am still waiting for a 32GB 3GS.. Three released the iphone 3gs on the 17th and they only lasted for 1 or 2 days.. Stocks are run out since then. This is ridiculous..
HTC will be releasing now Touch Pro2 soon. I am fed up with apple and three.. I might probably buy a Touch Pro2..
Beau
maneagabilty
ok so apple knew this phone would be a definite success.
so why dont they produce alot more before release to insure there is enough to go round... and also organise their production of them better to cope with the large demand.
it was the same with the previous models, apple will never learn
Anonymous
Apple
Everytime Apple releases a new product they only ever send stores limited stock.
I work for one of Australia largest resellers of Apple and ever time they release a new model it's the same story.
At the moment there is no stock of the Apple Pro Note Book. But Apple can ship you one direct in 3-5 days.
What Apple does is stimulate the market through it's resellers. Then limit their stock. Making the customer go on-line to buy and making Apple 10% more proffit.
Apple exploits it's resellers and uses them to market their product.
The problem is that the resellers wont stand together against Apple the big bullys.
Anonymous
Rotten Apples
Apples ALWAYS GO ROTTEN when they sit uneaten after a period of time......
best way is to eat a different type of fruit....
Ghandi of IT
So essentially it is clear that apple resellers are idiots for continuing their support for a vendor who is obviously exploiting them? Well done, continue to push your terribad product
Mr. K
Apple just try to cover their buts
If anyone has followed some of the issues with apple in the past you will see that anytime there is an issue that so called makes apple look bad they have a fancy excuse or just refuse to talk to press about it. I think that this whole thing is a sick way of getting marketing free and makes the bad publicity on a good product push their name into the market even more so.
The lack of support for resellers, the lack of accountability for the end user, the crap warranty they offer make you wounder if they are the Jet Star charging first class prices. Apple reminds me of walking into a late flight where they offer you a drink because you needed to wait in the terminal for 4 hours while they got their home hair dryers out because the defroster was broken.
Why apple can not supply goods on a well understood market gets me every time, laptops, iphones you name it. If anyone knows apple well enough you would understand that apple is late with nearly everything, even when you give them a 30min speech slot in a conference they still run over hence make everyone else late just as a reminder that they are apple. "rude!"
I just sit back and wait to be honest. Anything you do get on release normally has 101 updates to go before it is ready for market "you might need the 32 gig" if it is anything like their X OS's. Windows users I think call updates about 1/2 the size "service packs". Apple have some excuse for them called "customer satisfaction updates". Sorry grandpa, 56k modems will do email and everything else you need but if you get a Mac you better get broadband for updates.
Besides from my little rant I will say this... It has been 4 weeks after the first time I called a reseller to get a iPhone so today.... I ring and again ask "are their any iphones in yet?" the answer is NO!
In the mean time I'm thinking that Nokia is looking to be a good option.
pi$$ed off
Out of stock in Vic - Vodafone
Well, being a Nokia girl my wholelife, i thought i'd change to the igeneration... only to find out that it will 2 weeks wait til the 3gs is in stock....!
One thing is for sure - it had better be worth the wait - or Nokia here i come!
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