Half of U.S. retail stores can’t keep the iPhone on their shelves – but that’s an improvement, one analyst said Thursday. Additionally, the ‘antennagate’ mess of a few weeks ago had little or no effect on demand.
Seven weeks after the iPhone 4 was launched, barely half – 16 of 30 stores – had the new handset available. To try to keep up with the continuing demand, Apple is shipping the handset out every day, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
“We had expected near full store availability in the U.S. by now, given it has been several weeks since the iPhone 4 U.S. launch (June 24),” Munster told investors.
However, the short supply is still an improvement. Before July 10 the analyst found 0 out of 20 stores surveyed had the iPhone 4.
Although problems with the iPhone 4’s antenna caused a public ripple, prompting Apple to issue free cases to those owners experiencing reception trouble., Munster writes the current iPhone supply problem isn’t due to a production slowdown.
Despite customers experiencing problems finding the iPhone 4, this isn’t a new situation for Apple or its iPhone products. In 2009, the Cupertino, Calif. company reported constrained supplies in most countries due to “better than expected demand for the iPhone 3GS.”
Apple recently announced the iPhone 4 made company history – selling 3.7 million handsets in the first three days. Munster expects Apple will sell 11 million iPhone 4s during the September quarter.
