White iPhone 4 - will be available at launch

Yes I know that you cannot pre-order white iPhones, but that does not mean they wont have them at launch. I went to my local apple store today and the guy told me that just because you cant pre-order doesn't mean they wont be available at launch *wink*, he also told me that if i pre-order a black one and they have white ones in stock at they can give me a white one instead. Now lets talk about why apple would decide not to do pre-orders on the white iPhone 4.

Why Apple isnt allowing pre-orders on white iphone 4's

1. Apple sells like 4x as many black iPhones as white ones. So even under normal conditions they aren't going to have as many white ones as black ones.

2. For some reason this year either demand for white iPhones is unexpectingly high or the supply is low. Apple doesn't want people to pre-order something, and then find out that they are not available when they get to the store, it just leaves a bad taste in people mouth.

3. The pre-order site cannot link into real-time stock numbers from local stores (since the local stores don't even know how many they have) which means the pre-order menu cannot turn off/on the ability to order a white iPhone as availability changes. So instead of just hoping the number of pre-orders is less than availability, they are just disabling the feature all together to avoid getting peoples hopes up.

Why Apple WILL HAVE white iPhone 4's at launch

1. They had a gazillion demo units at WWDC that were white !

2. Steve Jobs specifically said that they will be available in two colors, not that you can get black now, white later. He wouldnt have announced it the way he did if this was the case.

3. The ability to pre-order is not the same as the ability to buy on launch day, these are two totally separate purchasing events. A pre-order is the ability to have exactly what you wanted on launch day, and it lets die-hard fans avoid the uncertainty of having the phone they want day 1. The direct link between launch day availability and pre-order availability has yet to be solidified.

4. We have already seen all the spare parts for the white phone surface from china, so they definitely have the parts to make the white ones.

5. Unlike the iPad WiFi vs 3G model, the iPhone 4 White and Black are the same freeking hardware, and if chinese spare parts companies are already selling them, then there is certainly no shortage of white iPhone parts.

6.  We know white iPhones exist, we saw them at WWDC. They might as well sell what they've got because the demand is probably going to outstrip supply and there is no point in sitting on a stash of white iPhones just because they dont have enough for everyone, that doesnt make any sense. They will sell every last iPhone they can.

How to get a white iPhone 4 at launch 

Step 1: Download the new 'Apple Store' app from the app store. 

This is by far the fastest easiest way to preorder, within 3 minutes of downloading it, I already had mine pre-ordered with a confirmation email with my appointment time (7:00 am, Boulder CO).

Step 2: Be in the front of the pre-order line. 

So the way launch day works is there will be two lines, one for people with pre-orders and one for ppl without. The one for pre-order will usually be pretty long, but apple employees told me that it moves alot faster. So what I plan on doing is scoping out the line wednesday evening to see if it will be neccessary for me to camp out or not. If its not too bad I plan on just rolling up a couple hours early and waiting till my appointment (7:00am). Note that my appointment time is a good 3 hours before they open the doors to 'regular' customers, which ensures that someone without a pre-order cant just come in a swoop up my darned white iPhone 4 !

Step 3: Pray to your god of choice that white will be available

Worst Case Scenario - They actually do not have white iPhones

I have already decided I want a White 32gb, but there is no way in hell im going to be alive on launch day without a new iPhone 4 no matter what color I have to buy. So, I talked to the Apple employee, he said that there is a 14 day return window for the new iPhone, so worst case scenario you buy the black one, and then in the next few days or week you return it for a white one.

I will make a new post on launch day about the iPhone 4 no matter what color I get, although I will be a little bummed if I do not get white.

Comments

[besweeet]

Interesting points. Hopefully there will be white iPhone 4's on launch day. There's no way in hell I'm getting a black one!

[Chris]

Hopefully they will at least be available here in Canada at the launch.

[Bel]

Excellent post, thanks a lot! I sure hope you're right. I don't think Steve would want to anger/disappoint loyal Apple customers (not that I know him:). I sure want that white one, too. So elegant on the slimmer model. Fingers crossed.

[Adam Mork]

I think it ultimately boils down to the supply uncertainty. For sure the apple stores will have a bunch of black iPhones, enough for pre-orders and some walkins. But they dont know how many white ones they will get since demand for those is usually much lower. So instead of trying to balance the number of white pre-orders with an unknown number of actual white phones, they just arent allowing it period.

Also, ive been reading elsewhere that the second/third tier retailers wont get white phones until late july, but that tells us nothing about Apple's personal supply. Clearly they have white iPhones we saw them at WWDC so they might as well sell what they've got because the demand is probably going to outstrip supply and there is no point in sitting on a stash of white iPhones just because they dont have enough for everyone, that doesnt make any sense. They will sell every last iPhone they can.