iPhone 5 in stock for the holidays, Nexus 4 is nowhere to be found
Though Apple has struggled with iPhone 5 supply in the past few months, the company knows that it has to have ample inventory of the iPhone for the holiday season. Now, eight weeks after launch, Apple has reached the point where the iPhone 5 is available in stores and online ship times have dropped to one week, says a report by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
As noted by Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Apple 2.0, Apple's situation contrasts greatly with the handset shortfall that Google is facing. Google launched its flagship Nexus 4 earlier this month to demand that exceeded the company's expectations. Both the 8 GB and 16 GB version of the handset sold out in record time.
Pre-orders were halted until earlier this week when another small batch of phones became available. This second supply of phones also sold out immediately and now pre-orders are being accpeted for the device. Don't expect to see a Nexus 4 anytime soon as estimated ship dates are eight to nine weeks out.
With the Nexus 4 nowhere in sight and the iPhone now becoming more available, Apple is positioned to sell a lot of iPhone handsets this holiday shopping season. Google should take a page from Apple's book the next time it plans to roll out a hot, new phone during the holiday shopping season.
