White Apple iPhones 4s Sold Out on Eve of Launch

Apple Inc has run out of white iPhone 4s on the eve of the launch of the hot-selling next-generation smartphone, the latest hiccup in the gadget’s closely watched global roll-out . Apple said on Wednesday that supplies of its more popular black model remain ample. The company moved 600,000 units of the slimmer and better-equipped $199 iPhone 4 in its first day of pre-sales, a deluge of interest that jammed ordering systems and squeezed carrier partner AT&T’s Inc’s inventory. The well-reviewed iPhone 4 goes on sale on Thursday in five of the world’s biggest economies – China and its guarded telecommunications sector being a notable exception – and consumers hoping to score the device are expected to throng stores. “White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July,” the company said in a statement. The iPhone is Apple’s main growth driver and is expected to soon become its biggest source of revenue.