US iPhone shortage: Apple stores out of stock

Cheery-faced PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster told clients the other day that one of the signs of an upcoming 3G iPhone was that twenty Apple stores are apparently out of stock of the handset.  Om Malik obviously has a decent long-distance call package, because his team decided to test out Munster's claim and call as many Apple stores as they could; locations were selected randomly, from Hawaii to Chestnut Hill to San Francisco.

Turns out, the answer from each was the same: that they're currently out of iPhones.  Now this doesn't include AT&T stores, certainly, but it seems strange that the distribution chain would get so behind if it wasn't on purpose. 

If you remember, Munster's suggestion was that Apple are preparing three new iPhone devices hitting the $200-300, $400 and $400+ price points, with the 3G version of the current iPhone believed to sit in the middle and be launched sometime between June and September.  The other two devices would be in stores by the end of January 2009.  Apple is yet to announce any update of their cellphone range.