AT&T Reverses Course On iPhone Sales Limit

After only one day with a limit of one iPhone per customer, AT & T, the exclusive seller of Apple iPhone outside the United States, on Thursday, the restriction is over.

The telephone company said it returned to its old policy of three per customer after they found he had enough iPhones to resume normal sales. AT & T issued the stricter limit Wednesday.

“Our No. 1 concern is to ensure that every customer who wants an iPhone receives one,” AT & T said the spokesman. “We believe that yesterday the fair way to do this is to limit customers to an iPhone. Then we realized that we have enough inventory to return to our original policy.”

He refused to discuss inventory levels at AT & T or reports of iPhone shortages in the United States and the United Kingdom, which has led to speculation that Apple is reducing inventories to make way for a new version smartphone to ship next month. “We have enough inventory, and we still have in our stores,” he said.

The telephone company notified his department’s retail limit through an internal memorandum distributed Wednesday and obtained by the Apple enthusiast site AppleInsider. The spokesman declined to comment on the memo.

“Effective May 14, 2008, customers can buy only one iPhone AT & T stores,” says the memo, according to AppleInsider. “The earlier limit of three iPhones is no longer in force.”

In addition, AT & T Wireless stores were told not accept cash or cheques, but only credit and debit cards for purchases iPhone, the note said. If sales reps wanted to sell more than one device to a client, they would have to obtain approval from a director or general manager.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs plans to give a keynote address to the company Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9 in San Francisco. Some analysts believe jobs report on the company’s new iPhone then.

IPhono shortages have been reported in the United States and the United Kingdom, and Apple is no longer accepting orders through its online store in both regions. The shortage and the suspension was cree that are the result of the reduction of inventories of Apple’s current 8 GB and 16 GB of phones to accommodate the new version, analysts predict that will be capable of processing data speeds exceeding carriers to 3G networks. The current access iPhones so-called 2.5 G networks, which are much slower than 3G. The latter is closer to speeds of banda ancha cable.

Apple in the UK wireless partner, O2, apparently ran out of iPhones last week and is now only selling high-end version, which has the largest storage capacity.

// May 16th, 2008