14 DAY TRIAL // The white version of the iPhone 4 is more difficult to produce, Apple said in a statement. As a consequence, the company has been forced to push availability to the second half of July. Cupertino claims that availability of the black iPhone 4 is not affected by the move. According to the report in question, the black model is also more popular than the white version of the handset.
Over at the PR section of its website, Apple’s statement on the white iPhone 4 goes as follows:
June 23, 2010
Statement by Apple on White iPhone 4
White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
A week ago, Apple and AT&T were faced not only with huge demand for the iPhone 4, but also with a defective pre-ordering system for the handset. In AT&T’s case, the glitchy pre-order mechanism led to the disclosure of customers’ personal information to third parties, mixed-up pre orders, or canceled shipments altogether.
The maker of the smartphone, for its part, issued a statement on iPhone 4 pre-orders, saying, “Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.” Nothing was said about delayed iPhone shipments at the time, regardless of the device model.