Apple Says Stores Have iPhone Duos Today. It Also Said Walk-In Stock Is Limited.

If you are weighing a drive to an Apple Store this morning for an iPhone Duo, Apple has given you two answers in the same week. Marketing chief Greg Joswiak told TechRadar that walk-in buyers should find phones waiting: "we didn't ship them all away during the pre-order, we have them available at the stores, we're excited." He added, "I'm sure we'll have some happy customers."

Days earlier, Apple told 9to5Mac that stores would have "limited" iPhone Duo availability for walk-in customers in the countries it listed, among them the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia. Both of those are Apple's words, on the record, inside the same week. Neither one tells you how many phones are behind the counter at the store nearest you.

What each statement actually commits to

"Limited" is the guidance a company writes when it does not want a line of people assuming they are guaranteed a phone. Joswiak's version came in an interview days before a launch he will be attending in person. The two can sit together without contradicting each other: Apple held phones back for walk-in buyers, and the number it held back is still finite. They differ in warmth more than in substance.

On demand, Joswiak said "the pre-order demand last week was extraordinary," and that people "understood what we were doing." He gave no number. Apple has not published one.

He is spending launch day at Apple's Fifth Avenue flagship in New York, where CEO John Ternus is also expected. That is where the cameras are, so take it as a launch-day appearance rather than a hint about stock in your city.

If you are going this morning

Apple's online store caps iPhone Duo orders at two per customer, a limit from earlier this week that it still has not explained. Whether the in-store counter applies the same cap is a question Apple hasn't addressed.

Apple says it kept phones at the stores, and Apple says walk-in availability is limited. Both can be true at the same time, which leaves one way to find out what your store actually has. Show up and ask.