Australia in the grip of an iPhone shortage

Supply of Apple’s iPhone 3GS has been exhausted across Australia, with the major telco’s confirming they are out of stock, and Apple admitting it’s unable to make enough iPhone 3GS's to meet demand.

Last year there were shortages of the then-new iPhone 3G in Apple's US stores that persisted for several weeks.

The iPhone 3GS launched in Australia on June 26, and since then five major mobile phone providers have run out of stock.

"There is currently a global shortage of iPhone models, and we are out of stock of some models," Telstra said in a message on its online store.

The Optus and Virgin Mobile Web sites confirm they are both currently out of stock.

Marketing specialist Amanda Potts told Computerworld that upon registering for an iPhone 3GS with Vodafone today, she was told that the wait would be three weeks.

“Vodafone said it’s telling all new customers the wait will be at least two to three weeks for iPhone 3GS shipment, but it's unknown how long the wait could be,” she said.

“Vodafone said it anticipates it could be double that time and that all Australian telco providers are in the same position, awaiting new stock from Apple.”

3 mobile almost sold out of the iPhone 3GS on the day of its launch.

Apple COO Tim Cook said the response to the iPhone 3GS has been tremendous and that more than 1 million handsets had been sold by the third day after its launch.

“We are currently unable to make enough iPhone 3GS's to meet the robust demand and we're working to address this," he said.

Vodafone and Hutchison 3G spokesperson Greg Spears said: “We haven’t been given any advice as to when we can expect the next shipment.”

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