Hayler

With the launch of the iPhone 3G now only just a couple of days away, realistically what are your chances of getting your hands on one of these highly desirable devices?

Back in September last year I wrote a blog post titled "Will you buy the UK iPhone" and at the time was very skeptical that people here in England would flock to the new phone on launch day mainly due to the lack of built-in 3G. Nine months on and Apple is about to unleash its iPhone 3G on the world with built in GPS, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and of course the version 2.0 firmware upgrade which will open the doors to the new App store and other features like live contact search. Additionally with a paid subscription to the new MobileMe service you will be able to sync your contacts and calendars between multiple devices and receive push email all automatically, all over the airwaves. Personally if Apple had just added 3G I would have been happy but with all these added features it really makes the iPhone 3G a very compelling convergent mobile device.

At the beginning of July I signed up to O2's email notification service via their website to receive iPhone launch updates. On July 7th at 8am O2 made the iPhone 3G available to preorder from their website. Within a couple of hours they had "sold out" of the 16GB version and an hour later had completely depleted stocks of the 8GB model. According to O2 during this period their website traffic peaked at 13000 requests per second which completely overwhelmed their servers. All of this happened unbeknownst to me as I went about my daily work routine. By the time someone mentioned the Engadget post announcing the early iPhone 3G purchasing opportunity it was all over. A quick glance at the website only revealed the depressing message that the iPhone 3G was now out of stock and advised to check back on the 10th for more information (no promise of units being available to preorder). Upon returning home after work I checked my personal email only to find that I had received an email from O2 at 7:38am that morning notifying me of the imminent availability of the iPhone 3G from the O2 website - 20 minutes before it actually launched!

Now obviously if you believe O2 the stock of iPhones must be really low to completely sell out in 2 - 3 hrs or could this be some strategic marketing aimed at ramping up hype before the actual launch day? My bet is that it is probably a little of both although this iPhone is being launched in 24 countries come Friday, July 11th and logistically Apple would have to shift one hell of a lot of iPhones globally for there to be a modest supply in each of the individual stores. This suspicion only appears to be strengthened by a recent blog post on AppleInsider citing O2 Sales Director Stephen Shurrock as stating, "each shop will have just a "few dozen" phones and is likely to run out quickly; with new stock coming in only once a week". I suspect that in the UK many O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores will probably have zero stock of the iPhone initially. Although you would most likely have to contend with fewer eager iPhone owner wannabes by rocking up to your local country O2 store I personally think you have a better chance at one of the larger retailers.

I can only expect this iPhone launch will be pandaemonium! Some New Yorkers have been queuing since June 26th and even in New Zealand one man has started to queue hoping to be one of the first consumers on the planet to get hold of the iPhone. I live in Southampton, England and suspect that by Thursday evening people will begin queuing outside of West Quay. If you want the latest, greatest phone on the planet you better go grap yourself a sleeping bag, a hot thermos and kiss the kids goodbye because unless you are on a mission to be in the first 10 - 20 people outside of the main O2 or Carphone Warehouse store in your town come Friday morning you won't get your hands on this device for the next 6 - 8 weeks. I'll see you there.

posted in: News and Apple