AppleInsider Staff
The announcement comes less than a week after the carrier's retail partner Carphone Warehouse was reported to have run dry of its supply of 16GB iPhones.
Prior to that, both O2 and Carphone Warehouse announced that the 8GB iPhone was out of stock and would not be restocked because it had been discontinued.
Though O2 does not explain the sudden lack of availability, it's clear to industry watchers that Apple in recent weeks has been depleting Europe of its existing iPhone inventory ahead of a second-generation model that will run on faster 3G wireless networks.
Update: O2 has reportedly told Register Hardware that it’s currently in the process of replenishing stocks of the 16GB iPhone to be sold online, but that its retail stores still have the model in stock.
Update 2: O2's website is again reflecting stock of the 16GB model.
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34 Comments
Oh well that's it then. They couldn't sell enough of them so Apple have pulled out of the UK.
NOT.
3G here we come.
Is it possible that a new iPhone will be released sooner than expected?
I can't imagine Apple/O2 would let supplies run dry over a month before the expected launch date of June 27 (from various rumor sites).
UNLESS this is to prevent people from purchasing within a 30 day window and returning for the free upgrade to the latest generation... Would that make sense?
Apple cannot leave the pipeline empty that long. There has got to be something afoot directly. It is one thing to create demand, it is another to lose business.
Is it possible that a new iPhone will be released sooner than expected?
I can't imagine Apple/O2 would let supplies run dry over a month before the expected launch date of June 27 (from various rumor sites).
UNLESS this is to prevent people from purchasing within a 30 day window and returning for the free upgrade to the latest generation... Would that make sense?
I'd say you're right JCrew. Apple got tired of the cry babies. Anyone who bought in the last month or two obviously doesn't care about 3G. Anyone who DOES cry is on their own, they can't legitimately say they had no idea new phones were coming. The smallest bit of research would have told them to wait.
It will be interesting to see if the phone supplies dry up *everywhere* in the US.
This is an extraordinary story. I cannot imagine any other consumer goods company doing anything similar. You've got to be very confident to leave the channel empty for so long! So Apple must be really pleased with iPhone 2.0. Here we all are chasing tidbits of info about it, My money is on the same kind of hype that accompanied the launch of the first one.