[Macworld]

Post your comments for AT&T, Best Buy sell out of iPhone 3G S pre-order supplies here

[NorCalMacFan]

Apple may surprise all with the actual number of new 3GS phones sold in the first weekend. Either inventories are tighter than last year's 3G release or demand is higher.

[heisetax]

As shown in his article the normal history would say that there are not enough customers to match last years sales for the reasons he stated. He may or may not be correct. But to say that anyone that does not agree with him is crazy is for the most part a crazy or at least bad choice of words. Some here are old enough to remember when most people in the know stated that there would never be any need for a hard drive bigger than 20 MB. Now hard drives come in sizes of 2 GB & will contiually get bigger.
Not being a smart phone user I won't go any farther than to say that I expect the authur Gregg Keizer to be wrong in his estimate. Only history will tell us how wrong.

[ruthanneclare]

i am a little upset with this article because no where on best buy's website or any of the people working for them have said that they are taking pre-orders!! i was planning on purchasing at best buy to use a gift card and really wanted to pre-order but was told they are not doing that. can someone point me to where you can pre order?

[avi8tor]

I pre-ordered on the Apple on-line store the day it was announced. It still shows delivery by June 19th. I'm just curious if that is the case for everyone who pre-ordered, especially those in the past few days. Not that I can't wait a week or so. It is just not a major life event for me to have the 3G S before anyone else does.

[ruthanneclare]

i ditched bestbuy and preordered today from apple - they said it would arrive on the 19th

[defdesign]

Not sure how many out there are like me... patiently waiting for the iPhone I have been hoping for. This is the combination of hardware and software i've been wanting/expecting from Apple (the App store is justthe frosting on the cake). Pre-ordered 3 iPhones from Apple this weekend (one for each of us on our family plan). Only glitch was the AT&T servers were down Saturday night thru Sunday morning. Here's hoping they all arrive on the 19th...

[mpole]

This Gottheil really needs to do some better research cause if you ask a local Southern California Apple store how many 3Gs reservations they've had already you'll see that a 1000 reservations just for the 19th at one store will top 3G sales in a day and the economy does not affect iPhone release days!!!

[bonaccij]

Here is my 2 cents...
If AT&T AND Best Buy have already sold out... not to mention that Apple is now telling people that if they order, they will ship in 7-14 days... yeah, I think they are AT LEAST going to match last year's numbers. Frankly, I think they are going to exceed them.

[dbutenhof]

"Not as much pent up demand"? I wonder. Of course it might be a factor that the AT&T upgrade rules eliminate all of those million(s) who have an iPhone 3G... except the most rabid collectors who will pay the enormous premium for an early upgrade. ;-)

[Steve_S]

>"Clearly, there's not a much pent-up demand for the iPhone 3G S as there was for the iPhone 3G. And however sweet the iPhone 3G S is, it’s step-up is not equivalent to the move from EDGE to 3G."
I'm curious as to the basis of making statements like this. How is it clear what the pent-up demand is? Seeing as though initial pre-orders have been sold out, I question the basis of this claim.
Further, it may be popular perception that the jump from the Edge model to the 3G model was a bigger leap. However, I see the 3G S model as the bigger leap. I use WiFi in most places and the new iPhone hardware is a huge leap. Anandtech has a nice article on it if anyone is interested. This phone will be much more responsive and allow for a new class of mobile applications that were just not possible on the original iPhone or even the 3G version. I'll definitely upgrade, but after another month or two when things settle down and the device has been tested by the initial users.

[daiya]

Agreed that for many people, Voice Control, better battery, and a better camera is a bigger leap than a 3G network that is only accessible some places and perfect GPS rather than estimated location. But this phone is clearly aimed at drawing new iphone users into the fold, both in features (answering most common complaints) and price.
However, selling out could mean that Apple/AT&T had lower expectations (in the middle of a recession), not that demand is higher than for the 3G.

[Flope]

Well I placed my pre-order directly with Apple on June 8. I got confirmation today that it shipped today with a due date of June 22 (imagine sad face here). I then clicked the product tracking link in the message and, per UPS, the new unit shipped June 16 from Shenzhen, China, and is due to arrive here tomorrow (imagine smiling face here)! If those two conflicted predictions average out, I might just get it Friday.
From this information it seems to me that for the pre-orders, the "inventories" may not be in the US. And if the units are stockpiled in China, it may not be shortages that will cause delays. It may just be logistics.

[MrLarrity]

I agree that Apple will not sell as many 3Gs iPhones as they did with last year's version.

The speedy processor essentially turns the iPhone into a formittable gaming machine. The video, voice control, and compass were just thrown in to make it sweet for the none gamer. The Nintendo DS and the PSP are in trouble.

I also hope sales are slower because I can't get to the Apple Store until about 4pm on the 19th and I made my pre-order last Monday.