Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New iPhone not on sale - no reason given

Updated at 7:56 am on 31 July 2010

Prospective iPhone buyers were turned away from stores across the country on Friday morning when a launch of the new cellphone was cancelled with no explanation.

The fourth generation version of the popular Apple cellphone was to have gone on sale in 17 countries on 30 July, with New Zealand being first.

Those who queued at the Magnum Mac store in Christchurch were told when the doors opened that the shop had no information about when the cellphone would be available.

They referred all inquiries to Apple. The situation was the same in Wellington and Auckland, where some customers queueing from the early hours of the morning.

Distributors of Apple products have been unable to give any information, including Vodafone, which was first to bring the iPhone to New Zealand two years ago.

Vodafone says it is unable to comment and Apple is not returning media calls.

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