Belgian iPhone 4 situation, this time for real.
This is the Belgian iPhone 4 situation at the moment. Starting with my Journey from this morning.
I went to the local Apple Retailer and Mobistar store this morning at 10AM after having preordered one yesterday morning. For those interested it’s Lab9 and the Mobistar Store in Aalst.
At Lab9 we were waiting with about 3 people, the first employee arrived and went inside without saying anything. The second employee arrived and gave us some more information. They had received 2 iPhone 4’s from the Belgian provider Mobistar and that these were show models (short for: We keep them to ourselves, but that doesn’t matter, I’d do the same). He went on that the owner of the store wasn’t happy at all and that they already contacted Apple and Mobistar about it. He wasn’t to speak at all about Apple and Mobistar’s behavior towards Belgian retailers and stores. It could take up to 6 weeks to see more iPhone 4’s arrive at the Lab9 Apple retailer and they don’t take preorders so there’s no need to call them as well.
After we heard this we went to the Mobistar store. The Apple Store employee already confirmed what many internet sources had said, there were 10 iPhone 4’s available at the Mobistar store. He added that they would keep them for Mobistar clients. I’m a Mobistar client so I headed that way immediately.
I asked the woman behind the counter immediately if there was a possibility to buy an iPhone 4 and she told us what we knew. They got 10 iPhone 4’s to sell to those who preordered them, the first 10 on the list. She also told that there are new iPhone 4’s coming in each week, presumably 10 units.
I’m #41 on the list so that would be a 5-8 weeks wait as I ordered a 16Gb model. I’m also on a list in another Mobistar store so there I’m #21 which would mean that I’d still have to wait 3-4 weeks.
Estimates say that Apple delivered 1000 iPhone 4’s to Mobistar. 200-500 to sell on their site and all other to dispense to the Mobistar and Apple Stores. That’s 1 iPhone 4 for every 10.000 Belgian people and as much as the stock in 1-3 American AT&T or Apple Stores for an entire country.
So to make a long story short, the chance to get an iPhone 4 here in Belgium without being on a preorder list of a Mobistar store is 0%.
If you get on a preorder list today you will probably have your iPhone 4 by October/November. If you live near Aalst, there are 12 iPhone 4’s in Aalst at the moment and about 80 people waiting for one. If you are on a list remember that there are 10 new units coming in each week. And ordering on the Mobistar website is like trying to order 1 out of 10 U2 tickets.
I hope I saved a lot of people a pointless ride to the city with this share.
EDIT: It seems that some Mobistar stores in the province capitals, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt, … were supplied with more iPhone 4’s, 100 units. So I think the reports that there are only 1000 iPhones delivered is exaggerated, according to my own calculations it would be no more than 2000 though or 1 for every 5000 people.
About me
My name is Renzo Verleysen I'm from Belgium (the Dutch part) and I'm a Cocoa Developer, Entrepreneur and Graphics Designer. My favorite occupations are being outside, dreaming, traveling, enjoying beauty, shopping for gadgets and nice things, listening to music (punk, metal, rock, classical, new age, synth-pop), trying new stuff, coding stuff for fun (mostly filters) and designing artwork for no apparent reason.
My least favorite occupations are doing stuff I have to (no matter how fun it is, when it becomes obligatory I automatically hate it), listening to people who tell me what to do, being locked up inside, spending the night (I'm plagued by insomnia), sleeping during the day, doing math, feeling cold and being sick.
I'm obsessed with Apple stuff by the way. Hence I possess a white macbook (of course), an iPad, an iPhone 3G, an iPhone 4, an iPod Video U2, an iPod shuffle (the one that talks), a 1st generation iPod Nano and my network consists of an Airport Extreme and an Airport Express. I'm now trying to save up for a 27" iMac i7 and for a 17" replacement for my badly damaged and nearly dead macbook.
I really hate extremists. You know those guys who can only think in one direction. Someone who is willing to die for his ideals isn't a consistent idealistic hero, it's a simple moron. I like Apple, but if they screw up I'll be the first to point a finger. You have those fanboys, especially those opensource folks and left extremists who think that their opinion is the only one that matters and that they rule the world, everyone who doesn't agree should die, etc... Well, those folks make me sick, but enough ranting.
I also write on some tech blogs, but of course opinion only goes so far on those. I have a twitter, but when you're used to writing 3 page posts, twitter really isn't any good as well. I have a wordpress for my business, but I can't really post any opinion on there as well. So I came across tumblr which I joined just because it has these amazing themes.
