02:34
htc
Around a thousand people queued through the night outside Apple's flagship store on Regent Street to be among the first to get their hands on Apple's newest gadget, iPhone 4.
The first customers in that queue were Alex and Priscilla Lee, Canadians living in Dubai who were in London for a holiday. The siblings had been queuing since late on Tuesday evening to secure their place at the head of the line. Ben Paten, who had placed a pre-order for his iPhone 4 online, was the first of the reserve-and-collect customers to pick up their iPhone 4 from the Regent Street branch.
But Apple has warned customers that the white iPhone 4 will not be available for another month, because of a manufacturing glitch.
"White models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected," said the company in a statement. "As a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."
Network operators Tesco and Three have joined Vodafone, Orange and O2 in announcing upgrade prices and tariffs for iPhone 4. Tesco is offering the 16GB iPhone 4 for £19 on a two-year contract worth £45 per month. Users will get unlimited calls and texts, and a 1GB monthly data allowance. Three will be offering the 16GB iPhone for free on a £45 per month, two-year contract, with customers receiving 2,000 minutes of free calls, 5,000 free texts, 5,000 free call minutes to other Three users, and a 1GB monthly data allowance. Full details of the other contracts and tariffs available from rival network operators can be found in our ultimate price guide.
Just a week after Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, promised that the already delayed white iPhone 4 would be available by the end of July, Apple said that the device would be delayed again.
Apple’s explanation for the new delay is concise and scant on details. In a two-sentence press release the company said: “White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”
The delay, of course, will not stop Apple’s run. The company said last week that it had sold more than three million black iPhone 4s.
But this being the iPhone, there was plenty of speculation as to what was behind the new delay. There were even some self-described conspiracy theories, like a report in Silicon Alley Insider suggesting that Apple was delaying the white iPhone 4 until it could “fix” the antenna problem. That seems unlikely given that Apple disclosed it faced manufacturing problems with the white handsets well before the antenna problems surfaced.
Some analysts who follow Apple say they believe the problems are indeed related to manufacturing, though they do not agree on their possible cause.
“It may be that they are not running the production lines in parallel,” said Tina Teng, an analyst with iSuppli. “They have to fulfill demand for the black ones first.” This is certainly a possibility, since Apple said this week that it was working hard to produce enough iPhone 4s — and iPads — to satisfy demand. Ms. Teng noted that she was merely speculating. “It can also be that materials are not ready,” she said, referring to the glass for the white iPhone.
The latter explanation made sense to Tim Bajarin, of Creative Strategies, who has been following Apple for three decades. Mr. Bajarin said the challenge was not just making white glass, but the exact tint of white that is approved by Apple’s designers. That, he said, involves mixing multiple layers or dyes and the manufacturing challenges apparently “have been harder than Apple anticipated.”
Mr. Bajarin also said Apple may not want to release the white iPhone until it is ready to supply them in sufficient quantities: “My belief is that the demand for the white iPhone is much higher than they anticipated. They don’t want to ship them in dribs and drabs. They want to have a large number of units to satisfy customers’ need all at once.”
Last week, Engadget delved into the challenges facing Apple’s glassmakers in enough detail to satisfy the most obsessed Apple fans.
The first customers in that queue were Alex and Priscilla Lee, Canadians living in Dubai who were in London for a holiday. The siblings had been queuing since late on Tuesday evening to secure their place at the head of the line. Ben Paten, who had placed a pre-order for his iPhone 4 online, was the first of the reserve-and-collect customers to pick up their iPhone 4 from the Regent Street branch.
But Apple has warned customers that the white iPhone 4 will not be available for another month, because of a manufacturing glitch.
"White models of Apple's new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected," said the company in a statement. "As a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."
Network operators Tesco and Three have joined Vodafone, Orange and O2 in announcing upgrade prices and tariffs for iPhone 4. Tesco is offering the 16GB iPhone 4 for £19 on a two-year contract worth £45 per month. Users will get unlimited calls and texts, and a 1GB monthly data allowance. Three will be offering the 16GB iPhone for free on a £45 per month, two-year contract, with customers receiving 2,000 minutes of free calls, 5,000 free texts, 5,000 free call minutes to other Three users, and a 1GB monthly data allowance. Full details of the other contracts and tariffs available from rival network operators can be found in our ultimate price guide.
Just a week after Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, promised that the already delayed white iPhone 4 would be available by the end of July, Apple said that the device would be delayed again.
Apple’s explanation for the new delay is concise and scant on details. In a two-sentence press release the company said: “White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”
The delay, of course, will not stop Apple’s run. The company said last week that it had sold more than three million black iPhone 4s.
But this being the iPhone, there was plenty of speculation as to what was behind the new delay. There were even some self-described conspiracy theories, like a report in Silicon Alley Insider suggesting that Apple was delaying the white iPhone 4 until it could “fix” the antenna problem. That seems unlikely given that Apple disclosed it faced manufacturing problems with the white handsets well before the antenna problems surfaced.
Some analysts who follow Apple say they believe the problems are indeed related to manufacturing, though they do not agree on their possible cause.
“It may be that they are not running the production lines in parallel,” said Tina Teng, an analyst with iSuppli. “They have to fulfill demand for the black ones first.” This is certainly a possibility, since Apple said this week that it was working hard to produce enough iPhone 4s — and iPads — to satisfy demand. Ms. Teng noted that she was merely speculating. “It can also be that materials are not ready,” she said, referring to the glass for the white iPhone.
The latter explanation made sense to Tim Bajarin, of Creative Strategies, who has been following Apple for three decades. Mr. Bajarin said the challenge was not just making white glass, but the exact tint of white that is approved by Apple’s designers. That, he said, involves mixing multiple layers or dyes and the manufacturing challenges apparently “have been harder than Apple anticipated.”
Mr. Bajarin also said Apple may not want to release the white iPhone until it is ready to supply them in sufficient quantities: “My belief is that the demand for the white iPhone is much higher than they anticipated. They don’t want to ship them in dribs and drabs. They want to have a large number of units to satisfy customers’ need all at once.”
Last week, Engadget delved into the challenges facing Apple’s glassmakers in enough detail to satisfy the most obsessed Apple fans.
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