Leading up to last year’s Worldwide Developer’s conference, where Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) unveiled the 3G iPhone, there were widespread reports of shortages of the original iPhone. Now as we inch closer to next week’s WWDC, we are hearing similar reports from two retailers about upcoming shortages of the iPhone 3G. If history is any indication, that may mean we are getting closer to seeing an updated version of the iconic device (meanwhile, what new features the iPhone will have is much debated).
AppleInsider reports that over the weekend, Best Buy became the latest Apple partner to warn staff in a memo that “the iPhone 3G is now in constraint,” and that the devices “will be light over the coming weeks and that some locations are likely to run out all together.” The message follows one by Brightpoint, an Australian distributor that supplies iPhone 3Gs to Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) Australia and others in the region. In reference to the 16GB iPhone 3G, the distributor wrote: “We have just been notified that the following devices are End Of Life and that there is only a few weeks stock available from Brightpoint.”
Last year, Apple announced the iPhone 3G on June 9 and released it about six weeks later on July 11. AppleInsider said Apple Care customer support groups guess it will take roughly three to four weeks before consumers will be able to purchase the new iPhones.
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