iPhone’s are disappearing across the country, as the flagship Apple (AAPL) stores in New York City, Chicago, Miami or San Francisco have apparently run out of stock. The same seems to be true in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Time Warner’s (TWX) Fortune Magazine spoke with Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who contacted 20 Apple stores around the country in the past week, found that there were no iPhones in any of the stores. It appears that AT&T is also low or out of inventory.
Is it a supply and demand problem, a marketing ploy or some other plot cooked up by Steven Jobs? Fortune writer Philip Elmer–DeWitt reports Munster as opining the odds of what is really going on:
- 20% chance Apple is dealing with some kind of production or manufacturing problem.
- 80% chance that Apple is clearing inventory and has a new version of the iPhone coming earlier than anticipated
If it is the latter and you happen to be searching for an iPhone right now, you might want to wait.
Regardless, it appears that Jobs, who is famous (or notorious, depending on your viewpoint) for turning any changes or additions in Apple products into huge public relations events, isn’t actually trying to engineer some sort of marketing ploy in this case.
By the way, Apple.com is still promising to ship within 5 to 7 business days. So if ya gotta have it, you might want to check them out.
Filed under: Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Sales Promotion | Tagged: Apple, AT&T, Fortune, Gene Munster, iPhone, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Piper Jaffray, Steven Jobs, Time Warner
