IPhone Shortages? Come Back Tomorrow

Is Apple managing an iPhone shortage by throttling back on shipments? Would Jerkoff Jobs try and pull something like that? Maybe so. Blackfriars has created a Google Maps mashup that shows iPhone availability at various Apple stores around the U.S., drawing data that Apple provides on its website. Stores that have iPhones in stock show up as green pins, stores with no iPhones have red pins. According to Business 2.0, supplies ran out at 22 stores on Tuesday afternoon, but were back in stock on Wednesday morning.

While this isn't exactly news -- Apple's online store has been saying for several weeks that new shipments of iPhones arrive at their stores every day, and that many stores sell out on a daily basis -- it does suggest an interesting wrinkle to Apple's distribution strategy for the much-worshipped consumer device.

In the old days, Apple would release a popular product and rapidly sell out. Frustrated customers would wait for months while the company got its supply chain in gear. Now, instead of selling out its entire stock of iPhones in a few days, it looks like Apple has carefully rationed the devices. Instead of one big sell-through, the company has orchestrated a bunch of small, distributed sellouts. You may not be able to get the iPhone this afternoon, but if you come back to the same store tomorrow morning, you may be in luck.

It's a much smarter distribution strategy than the old way, as it keeps iPhones in the pipeline, minimizes customer complaints and prevents bad press from cropping up.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/07/iphone-shortage.html