iPhone 5 now readily available in Apple Stores
updated 11:35 am EST, Thu November 29, 2012
Should ease issues for holiday shoppers
The iPhone 5 should now be in regular stock at Apple Stores around the US, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Piper has been conducting nightly checks after stores have received stock, and during the most recent poll, 20 out of 20 locations had Verizon models, normally the hardest to obtain. "The bottom line is that AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are consistently showing 90%+ availability," Munster comments.
While Apple may not have accomplished the feat in time for Black Friday, it will give the company some help in the few remaining weeks before the holidays. At Apple's online store in the US, Canada, and several other countries, shipping times are now down to one week, having at one point taken as long as three to four weeks to deliver. Munster says he is sticking to a prediction of 45 million iPhones for the current quarter, working on the assumption that since Apple is only now meeting demand, there may not be much upside to sales.
