iPhone out of stock 'company wide,' say Apple sales reps

The iPhone is out of stock "company wide," Apple sales representatives said Sunday. The outage has fueled rumors that the next-generation 3G model will be released shortly.

Neither Apple's U.S. or U.K. online stores have iPhones available for sale, according to their Web sites. At both, the message "Currently Unavailable" appears beside "Ships," which last week was noting a delay of five to seven business days. The company's German and French e-stores, however, still show 8GB and 16GB iPhones available.

[ The heat is on Apple to produce a 3G iPhone; see related story: "RIM's BlackBerry Bold beats Apple to the 3G punch." ]

Sales representatives at four major Apple retail stores contacted by Computerworld today said that the iPhone is unavailable, not only at their own stores but across Apple. Most had no explanation why the smartphone is out of stock.

"The iPhone is sold out, company-wide," said a salesman who answered the phone at the Apple store in Braintree, Mass., just south of Boston.

"It's out of stock, Apple-wide," said a saleswoman from the Apple store in downtown Portland, Ore. "No, I don't know why," she said when asked why the iPhone was unavailable online and at retail. "All we've been told is that it's Apple-wide."

Sales representatives at the New York City store on Fifth Avenue and the San Francisco store on Stockton Street also confirmed that there were no iPhones to be had. "We're sold out," said the salesman at the New York store. "I heard that it was some kind of shipping issue."

Some of the Apple sales reps said that AT&T retail stores in the area might have iPhones in stock.

The iPhone's vanishing act has boosted talk that the 3G-enabled iPhone -- many analysts have predicted it would be announced and released next month -- is right around the corner.

Saturday, Apple-specific Web sites and blogs reported on the sold-out notices posted on Apple's U.S. and U.K. online stores. "With all the buzz surrounding the 3G model, the international rollout, and the SDK, this is just one more sign that the release of a new device is right around the corner," speculated the Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) in a post filed Saturday afternoon.