The boss of Apple apologized to customers turned away empty-handed from its stores on the day the iPhone 4 went on-sale, but still declared the launch the firm’s best ever.
Steve Jobs revealed the firm sold 1.7 million iPhone 4’s in three days since its launch on June 24, beating the one million iPhone 3GSes sold in the same time in 2009, but apologized that the firm “did not have enough supply,” to sell a unit to every customer who came into its shops.
Apple gave no indication when supplies might catch-up.
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar previously estimated the firm needs to produce around four million units per month to hit target - and cautioned that it will miss due to a shortage of Retina displays
The device launched in Western Europe, Japan and the US on June 24, but was available on pre-order from June 15.
AT&T issued its own apology for suspending pre-orders after it sold its 600,000 allocated units in a day, while UK carrier O2 will only sell the device to existing customers until at least end-July, blaming low stocks of the device.
One disappointed customer had vowed to complain to Jobs after he flew from Dubai to London and waited 32 hours to be first in-line, but was passed over by shop staff, who would only sell pre-ordered units, national daily The Sun reported.