10 Signs Apple is clearing iPhone 3G inventory for new iPhone:

Seth Weintraub
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March 27, 2009
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1. AT&T is selling refurbs for $99 (again) with activation and plan

2. O2 is giving away free iPhones with their low cost plans (not their expensive plans)

3. AT&T and Apple are now selling iPhones without contract (or second line) knowing that more will go Jailbroken this way.  (If you have $600-$700 to spend)

4. France is now selling them unlocked at department stores.

5. China Unicom might get offloaded a few million on May 17th, ahead of new model.

6. AT&T executives have the new models for testing and are so excited they can't keep their mouths shut.

7. UK retailers are selling unlocked 3G iPhones.

8. WWDC, the traditional launching pad for new iPhones was announced yesterday.  It will be June 8-12th.

9. Remember all of those extra iPhone part numbers found in the 3.0 build?  Yeah, those can't all be Tablets.

10. Steve Jobs is coming back at the end of June.  You don't think he will be empty handed do you?

Comments (12)

dunnycan (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 7:29am

Regarding Point 5, It's China Unicom selling them, not China Mobile and they will be selling a modified version of the iPhone which uses WCDMA instead of HSDPA

9to5Mac Nobody (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 2:37pm

>> they will be selling a modified version
>> of the iPhone which uses WCDMA instead of HSDPA.

Is there any Infineon's chipset available to support WCDMA ?
;)

admin | March 27, 2009 - 7:54am

correctamundo Chachi.  We were just testing you.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 8:33am

the only thing more stupid than saying their will be a new iphone in June is saying there wont be one. Its a simple case of no sh*t Sherlock.
Ive written my own article on the subject below :

Its practically April, so just 42 days to new iphone.

Thats it, thats my article.

Perhaps some site could do a similar article like "Number of shopping days to new iphone"

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 9:07am

number 4.
it's because of a french law. they can't sell the iphone with a plan of only a carrier...AFAIK..
let me know if I'm wrong..but I think I read it in a newspaper..

So...! (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 9:12am

UPDATE:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/03/27/att_stores_now_offering_ea...

Can you guys please do research into this?
And also, what do you think the upgrade costs will be for the next iphone? Similar or different?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 10:01am

If the the 3rd Generation iPhone is to be released Junish, doesn't February and March seem awfully early to start unloading inventory of the current generation iPhone? Is there really that much extra stock sitting around the world? Is this Apple just trying to expand the customer base for the App Store, or is the new iPhone getting released earlier then June?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 11:09am

I seem to remember last year's buildup to WWDC and the 3G announcement, that around May there were iPhone shortages and the speculation was an imminent release. Turned out the 3G wasn't released until July and most thought Apple was INSANE for drying up the supply channels and leaving thousands of sales on the table. May be part of Apple's strategy to build up demand and decrease returns on <30 day sales that would come back into the stores as "defective."

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 11:31am

On point two:

O2 aren't giving away iPhones on their cheaper plans, these are new plans, 24-months in length. Apple continues to charge for iPhones on its 18-month contracts and give away iPhones on its more expensive 18-month contracts.

Check your facts.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 27, 2009 - 1:43pm

REPUBLICANS SUCK

IL_MORUZ (not verified) | March 28, 2009 - 5:34am

i think at WWDC will be presented only a redesigned iphone with some more storage (32GB version).... no new hardware capabilities until 2010 .. No iPhone Nano or Tablet. Iphone OS 3.0 is good enough for most consumer but it lacks in some features, such as video recording, video call.
Honestly i think iPhone is the best mobile platform to use it and develop for but for my budget is a little too expansive (especially here in Italy with data plan so much overpriced!!)

Hades (not verified) | March 29, 2009 - 10:23am

Guys, you should really read what you are quoting.
http://network.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/3/27/uk-company-...
http://forum.whatmobile.net/showthread.php?t=37733

This offer of unlocked iPhones is a fraud.

(I not saying "no new iPhones", but point 7 and the link provided is just not correct)