Sources within Apple's retail stores report that sales of the iPhone 3G are being slowed down by handhelds running Microsoft Windows Mobile/WinCE. That's because the stores have been selling new iPhones to customers using the old EasyPay, a problematic Pocket PC handheld computer that's causing employees lots of grief.
Intel's Developer Forum has revealed the processors likely to underpin the first refresh of the MacBook Air ultraportable. At the same time, residents near Apple's SoHo retail store in New York City allege that its frequent concerts are ruining the neighbourhood.
All of Apple's US retail outlets are now in a permanent launch mode and will open as much as two hours earlier each day to accommodate the unprecedented demand for the new iPhone. Also, at least some locations are now giving customers rainchecks for the day's iPhone 3G stock.
Two weeks after it launched on July 11, the iPhone 3G is still hard to find in the US. Many Apple retail stores have no supplies at all, leaving buyers to track down the stores that do have remaining stock and wait in slow moving lines that stretched out for five hours.
Canadians will get their first taste of a high-profile Apple retail store this weekend when the iPhone maker takes the wraps off a spacious, double-decker flagship shop in downtown Montreal. The company will also open its first store in South Carolina and its fifth in Arizona.
With the iPhone 3G not even ten days old, virtually all of the Apple retail store stores open within the United States are without any examples of the device to sell on July 21st.
Ahead of the summer Olympics, Apple on Saturday will open the doors to its first retail store in China, a glass-enclosed high-profile shop situated in Beijing's newest retail development: the Village at Sanlitun.
Apple promised that iPhone 3G and its iPhone 2.0 software would be more suited to business, but a severe shortage of the device could force companies to wait as long as two weeks before they see their orders, and is forcing many home customers to go without at the same time.
Supply limits and activation woes have left multiple Apple retail outlets short of iPhone 3G stock or else with lengthy lineups, even towards the end of the phone's first day on sale.
We stood in line at a local Apple retail store early this morning to experience the first-day iPhone 3G launch and new activation process. What follows is a comprehensive set of notes covering the process for those customers who'll be picking up their new iPhone later today, this weekend, or sometime thereafter.
Casting aside worries that iPhone 3G buyers in Britain would have to shop at O2 and Carphone Warehouse, a new report claims Apple UK will sell the devices itself — albeit with an important catch.
Speaking to Bloomberg on Tuesday, Apple retail chief Ron Johnson offered some clarity on how his retail staffers will service droves of queued iPhone 3G hopefuls this Friday, how long each activation will take, and what kind of supply stores will have on hand.
Apple has issued emails and updated its iPhone pages with new information regarding iPhone 3G launch day procedures. Meanwhile, the first sets of unboxing photos are appearing on the Web now that demo units have started to arrive at retail stores around the world.
US-based Apple retail stores will join those of AT&T by opening at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, July 11th, to usher in the new iPhone 3G, the company said Monday.
Apple plans to rely heavily on its portable checkout devices to speed up the iPhone 3G checkout and activation process at its retail stores beginning this Friday, according to information coming out of the company's retail meetings. Other notes from the internal gatherings follow.
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Prince McLean
Katie Marsal
AppleInsider Staff
Sam Oliver
Aidan Malley
