O2 running low on iPhone 3GS model, subscribers may abandon ship

Earlier this week, on Monday, the UK's third largest mobile operator Orange announced that an exclusive sale agrement between Apple Inc. and O2 has been terminated, allowing it to sell the much-wanted handset.

A day later, bigger rival Vodafone said it has secured a similar deal with Apple to stock and sell iPhone albeit from 2010.

The series of announcement made people feel that the operators were gearing up for a bitter price war during Christmas, the country's most important festive season, as all three operators will try to woo customers by offering price cuts and shorter contracts than those presently being offered by O2.

The handset - which is sold in Apple and O2 stores and in Carphone Warehouse, the high street mobile chain - is currently available free on some O2 contracts but customers are still required to "lock-in" for 18 or 24 months and to pay up to £74 a month for calls and texts. On the other hand, pay-as-you-go customers have to shell out £538 for a 32GB model or £440 for a 16GB model.

Along with the threat of a looming price war, another concern is growing whether Apple would be able to meet the demands of more networks offering the popular extreme of the iPhone viz. iPhone 3GS.

"We are currently unable to make enough iPhone 3GS to meet robust demand and we are working to address this," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's senior vice president and CFO, had said in July 2009, when the company's most recent financial results were announced.

Though an Apple spokesperson said they have enough units to meet the huge demand the device would generate during Christmas, the biggest sales time for such a product, iPhone fans remain sceptical and some of them believe that O2 is already running low on stocks of the advanced handset and would soon run out of them.

A quick glance in O2's website will reconfirm the same story - that it is running extremely short of certain models of the fashionable mobile.

According to an O2 salesperson, 16GB version of iPhone 3GS is highest in demand and it is possible that soon one would have to wait for a month or two before one can lay his/her hands on this model. O2 still has the older iPhone 3G models available. This model is slower than the 3GS, does not have a video camera, nor does it come with the option of 32GB.