Kind of hard to access that when I don't have an iPhone. (As I mentioned upthread, mine was stolen in Dublin.)

I'd be surprised if the iOS app's availability differed from store.apple.com's.

I wasn't able to get to the store at the 10am opening today due to an appointment, but I did stop by and one of the employees said they had Verizon ones in stock today but no AT&T (she confirmed with a proprietary app on her employee iPhone). I asked her what time of day shipments arrive and the phones are released for sale. She said it varies--sometimes morning, sometime night, sometimes middle of the afternoon.

I asked her (just for grins) whether availability in the store was different than online, and she very quickly said absolutely not; if it's in the store and available, it's available online. I clarified once more, "So there's no point in coming down the store--I can do the exact same thing by just refreshing the website?" and she said, "Absolutely." Not 100% sure I believe her, but there was no hesitancy on her part. (Maybe they're trained to say that? She seemed sincere.)

Thinking she had access to secret inventory on her company iPhone, I then asked if she had the ability to check availability at other stores nearby (well, the next-closest is an hour and a half from me), and she just walked to a desktop machine and fired up store.apple.com.

I'm beginning to think the time I spend on this is better spent researching a cheap but decent digital camera to order from Amazon before I depart for Asia/NZ and just ordering the phone for it to be here when I get back.