It appears Apple’s vaunted supply chain may have some kinks in it — at least for Australian users. After pre-ordering the iPhone 4S on Oct. 7, Apple fans in that country may have to wait two weeks for delivery, reports said Friday. Seems Apple gave U.S. and European iPhone 4S pre-orders delivery priority.
Even though Australian consumers are able to walk into a retail location and buy an iPhone 4S, those who took the trouble to pre-order their device, presuming they would be at the head of the line for deliveries, received instead a rude awakening. While American and European pre-orders had an Oct. 14 delivery date, Australian pre-orders have an Oct. 14 shipping date.
It doesn’t make much sense geographically, either. Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere is physically closer to the China-based Foxconn, Apple’s iPhone supplier. Yet U.S. and European customers have faster deliver times. It must seem like salt added to the wound, seeing that Aussies pay a premium for the iPhone.
At least they are not in New Zealand’s position. Kiwis who pre-ordered the iPhone 4S won’t get the handset until around Christmas, reports say.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
18 responses to “Apple Screws Up Australian iPhone 4S Preorders, Many Aussies Won’t Get Theirs Until October 28th”
that’s not right. if apple is going to give australia the same launch day as the other countries, they should all be treated the same
its just a glich in the system. No one wanted this to happen. Just a missed key stroke or something
And everyday should be rainbows and lollipops. Now THAT’S not right.
I live in the UK and I preordered my iPhone 4S on oct 7 and my delivery date is oct 21 – 28th!
Mine too… Walked in to my local three store, walked in, no queue and walked out 5 minutes later with a 4s. Shame I waited 2 and half hours this morning only to be told they had sold out.
Australian here that pre ordered on the 7th. Pissed off is an understatement.
I preordered mine on October 7th and my delivery date is from 31/10 to 8/11. If I’d known it was going to be so long I’d have just gone to my local Apple store five minutes down the road. :/
You are not serious are you, Apple knew exactly what it was doing-Australia -small market , stuff them, if they don’t pre order again who cares, certainly not Tim Cook
Kinda sucks, but surely the delay is a good enough reason to cancel the pre-order and just go buy one from a store. The JB Hi-Fi near me has them in stock.