What I also find interesting, or just indicative of the laissez-faire analysis conducted by analysts is that nobody seemed to notice the difference between the sell-in rate of 823,000 versus the sell-through rate of 810,000. It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, that sell-in is the figure showing the number sold to the carrier, i.e. sold into the channel, and that sell-through is the actual number sold to the subscriber. If so, the disparity is remarkably tight and would mean that with the exception of 13,000 units, every phone they've produced has been sold.
This flies in the face of all those analysts who were saying that the Pre was languishing on store shelves.
Moreover, it would also explain why Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart and Amazon hadn't shown full-blown advertising positioning for the Pre on the web or in their fliers (for Best Buy and Radio Shack) until the last couple of weeks. This week was the first time I could find an available Pre on Amazon WITHOUT entering my zip code which means that availability was limited and they were constraining shipments to areas more lacking in stock.
I don't think I've ever seen a Pre in either a Radio Shack, Best Buy or Walmart flier here in CT. I know because I look.
I think that supply constraints existed for most of the last three months and only recently broke through to a more balanced available inventory.