As announced earlier this month by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the iPhone 4 is launching in 17 countries beginning tomorrow, July 30th. The countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Sydney Morning Herald offered coverage of the launch in Australia, where a number of retail stores opened at 8:00 AM.
But in the race to score the most customers, Optus, Telstra and Vodafone/3 bent over backwards to ensure the wait was an event in itself. Singer Kelly Rowland greeted customers at Optus, Vodafone plied its faithful with free booze and Telstra offered fine cuisine.
Sources say each telco has received only about 12-13,000 iPhone 4 units in the first batch, and with Optus alone getting over 100,000 pre-order customers, stock is likely to run out within days.
However, things seem to be going a bit more difficult in new Zealand, where, according to local reports, Apple's deal with the carrier Vodafone has been cancelled in that country. All mentions of the iPhone 4 have been removed from the carrier's website and no launch plans had been announced. Several sources are also reporting that Vodafone posted signs in its stores that the launch of the iPhone 4 would not be taking place on July 30th. On the other hand, MacRumors is reporting that they have been told that both Vodafone and JB Hi Fi are claiming a "shipping error" is what cancelled the launch for today.
South Korea had also been scheduled to receive the iPhone 4 tomorrow, but Jobs announced that there would be a delay due to government approval. However, government officials in South Korea are denying the claims from Apple, stating that the company hasn't even submitted the iPhone 4 for approval yet.
The next round of iPhone 4 international launches is set to take place in August, with 24 more countries, followed by 40 countries in September, bringing the grand total to 88 countries.
