Chaos surrounds New Zealand iPhone 4 day

Apple's iPhone 4 went on sale today in New Zealand. But Vodafone NZ's handling of the launch left much to be desired, with hundreds of customers left in the lurch.

Many had queued up overnight outside Vodafone NZ stores to told by staff that "no iPhones coming in today and they didn't know when they were coming in," Jacob Creech, a Wellington-based customer, told the Wall Street Journal. "It was quite a nightmare and the worse thing was there was no information."

By mid-day, iPhones were in some stores and by 4pm the country's entire stock was sold out, the WSJ reports.

So what went wrong? Some pundits point to stock issues, but we suspect that the Sydney Morning Herald is more on the money.

It cites a Voda source who "said the telco and Apple were 'banging heads' over the iPhone 4".

Any which way, New Zealand's iPhone 4 Launch Day is well and truly launched. Customers who missed out today will get their handsets soon enough. ®