Antenna problems not having major impact

The iPhone 4 continues to be in short supply in much of the US, even if the situation is improving, says Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster. Out of 30 US Apple Stores polled by the analyst this week, only 16 reported having some phones in stock. Many outlets are claiming they are dependent on daily shipments to keep up with demand, according to Munster.

Supply has steadily improved since the beginning of July. Munster notes that before July 10th, there was no stock available. By July 26th, three out of five Apple Stores had models on sale.

The fact that phones are still hard to come by is proof that antenna problems have not seriously hurt interest in the iPhone 4, the analyst suggests. At the same time, supply issues are not thought to be linked to production slowdowns. "We had expected near full in store availability in the US by now, given it has been several weeks since the iPhone 4 U.S. launch (June 24)," says Munster. "Longer than expected supply shortages are not new to the iPhone. As a point of reference, in last year's September quarter conference call, the company indicated that iPhone supply was constrained in most countries through late Sept. or early Oct. due to better than expected demand of iPhone 3GS."

by MacNN Staff