Red light district: Apple Stores out of iPhone stock

I just picked up an iPhone at the Seattle Apple store, which was showing red last night. I asked the sales guy about it, and he said that that status represents whether they would have phones when they open the doors at 9AM, which they in fact did not this morning. However, they receive their new shipments in the morning after they open, so by the time I got in around noon, they had iphones.

So really, a red light just means you need to call your local store and ask whether they have phones. It does not necessarily mean they will not have any that day.

13 -- yes, derek, I do know what it means. It was that or 'red light special' which didn't seem on target either.

For the record, I'm not suggesting that anyone prostitute themselves for an iPhone.

"Red light district"

Do you know what that means?

Not sure why they limit it to after 9PM, but if you're curious at other times of the day, just check the JSON file that the page loads with all the store data:

http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/feeds/iphone_inv.json

Anyone in MN heard of where iPhones might still be available today (Thursday, 11:44 a.m.)?

I don't even live in the Twin Cities, but I've been to every one of those Apple Stores in the picture!

FYI, the 5th ave store in NYC has a good amount of 8gb iPhones in stock. Just picked one up about 15 minutes ago.

Aargh, I hope the iPhone isn't the new Wii, which *still* can't be found on the shelves 8 months after launch. I figured I'd just be able to walk into the Apple Store yesterday and pick one up, but the shipment they had received the night before was snatched up by the 50+ folks in line outside the doors when the store opened. On July 4th.

Then again, the pundits were saying you'd be able to walk into any store and grab a Wii off the shelf too...

Hope I don't have to wait much longer.

FWIW, I was at the SoHo store on Tuesday afternoon and they very clearly had plenty of iPhones behind the counter, though the site had said they were sold out on Monday night. So you ought to call around regardless of what the site says.

Leonard Nimrod: Likely because Apple was updating their site when you tried to access it. I just checked the iPhone availability site a few moments ago, and it works for me. Give it another try.