There was shock and disbelief in the iPhone line last night. An Apple Store employee came out to take a tally of who wanted which model of the 5S, and by the time he made it out past the first dozen people waiting outside the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, Calif., he solemnly announced that the rest of us probably weren’t going to be able to get one of the gold-colored 5S models.
According to preliminary reports, retail supplies of the gold phone seem to be mostly restricted to Apple’s own retail outlets.
The 5S went on sale in Apple’s online store at midnight last night, and within less than an hour, the golden phone’s availability was simply listed as “October,” while the other two colors offered to ship within 1-3 business days.
It’s hard to say yet whether Apple’s supply was shockingly low, if demand was incredibly high or some combination of the two. If Apple releases sales data for the 5S, it will be possible to build a better picture of the situation.
In the meantime, Apple is asking its suppliers to step up production of the gold 5S, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
