Some Apple retail employees have been told to warn customers not to visit stores on Friday, October 23 expecting to buy the iPhone Duo without a pre-order, because there will likely be no walk-in stock available on launch day.
iPhone Duo launch-day availability
Apple Store employees said they were advised that stores will probably not have iPhone Duo inventory for walk-in purchases on October 23 and were instructed to discourage customers without pre-orders from coming in. Apple’s online store directs customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for pickup availability; pickup reservations had been briefly available when pre-orders opened before that option was disabled. The October 24 message does not guarantee that stock will be available that day, and it is unclear how firm the guidance to staff is or whether it applies worldwide. Apple has not publicly specified whether any stores will hold stock for launch-day walk-in purchases.
Production constraints and the pre-order rush
Warnings about a constrained launch began before the iPhone Duo announcement: reports in early September said production had reached only a few hundred devices per day in late August, and further production problems emerged in late September. A report from earlier this month said Apple had at one point believed production constraints could push the start of sales into November; the company later assembled enough inventory to proceed with the October 23 launch, although supply remained very limited. When pre-orders opened this week, delivery estimates moved beyond launch day within minutes, and within 30 minutes all configurations in Apple’s U.S. online store showed January 25 shipping estimates. Through Apple’s online store the device is now effectively sold out for Christmas.
Apple described demand as “nothing short of extraordinary” in a statement to the Financial Times and said it was working to get devices to customers as quickly as possible. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the United States, with first pre-order deliveries scheduled for October 23.
