With less than 24 hours until the second phase of global iPhone roll-out, some carriers have stopped taking pre-orders for the device due to low supply. Over in Slovakia, carriers Slovak Telekom and Orange Slovakia stopped taking pre-orders amid widespread supply constraints, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Furthermore, I’ve just checked with the nine global Apple Stores that currently sell the iPhone 5 and nearly all of them still quote 2-3 week delivery estimate, suggesting that Apple is selling iPhones as fast as it can make them. Folks around the world are obviously getting fed up with the iPhone…
Leos Rousek, writing for The Journal:
“In the end, we’ve decided against taking pre-orders because of low delivery volumes from the supplier,” Slovak Telekom spokesman Michal Korec said. “We’ll begin selling iPhone 5 tomorrow morning during regular opening hours of our stores.”
Both Slovak Telekom operates under Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile brand. Orange Slovakia, a unit of France Telecom SA, is the country’s second-largest carrier.
The Czech and Slovak units of Spain’s Telefonica SA are at odds with Apple over terms of sale (read: high iPhone subsidy) and reportedly have no plans to sell the iPhone 5 at their retail stores, though the Czech unit of Telefonica will offer discounted calling plans to customers who bring in their own device bought from Czech Apple Stores.
Back in the United States, regional operators Cricket, C Spire, GCI, Bluegrass Cellular, nTelos Wireless and Appalachian Wireless will sell discounted iPhone 5 beginning tomorrow. For example, nTelos Wireless will be offering the entry-level sixteen gigabyte version of the iPhone 5 for just $149 with a two-year contract.
The iPhone 5 launches in 22 new countries tomorrow: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Did you plan on standing in line or pre-ordering?