Apple Retail Staff Reportedly Told to Warn Against iPhone Duo Walk-In Buyers

Some Apple retail employees have been instructed to warn customers without pre-orders against visiting stores on Friday, October 23 expecting to buy the $1,999 iPhone Duo, according to Apple Store staff speaking with MacRumors. Employees were advised there will likely be no launch-day inventory for walk-in buyers, though it remains unclear how firm the guidance is or whether it applies globally. Apple's online store directs customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for pickup availability after briefly offering and then disabling pickup reservations when pre-orders opened. All configurations in Apple's US online store slipped to January 25 shipping estimates within 30 minutes of pre-orders opening earlier this week, effectively selling out the device for Christmas online. The supply crunch follows earlier manufacturing bottlenecks: Nikkei Asia reported in early September that production had reached only a few hundred devices per day in late August, while Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported Apple had at one point thought constraints could delay the launch into November. "Nothing short of extraordinary" — Apple, describing iPhone Duo demand in a statement to the Financial Times.