NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- IPhone seekers hoping to avoid days-long lines thought they'd have an ace in the hole: retail outlets other than Apple's stores. Apple partner AT&T warned potential buyers that it wouldn't have inventory for walk-in buyers until next week, but Wal-Mart, Best Buy and RadioShack all announced plans to have "limited" supplies available Thursday for shoppers who didn't pre-order the iPhone 4.
That was the theory. The reality hasn't played out so smoothly.
Wal-Marts around the country said that their iPhones were in short supply, and Twitter was ablaze with customers reporting from Wal-Mart stores that had just one or two of the devices in stock.
An Evansville, Ill., Wal-Mart said it had exactly one unreserved iPhone 4 available when it opened. But don't race out the door: It's already sold.
Only 1,500 of the 3,600 Wal-Mart stores in the United States are offering the phone on Thursday, according to company spokeswoman Ashley Hardie, though more stores will sell the phone after the launch day.
A spot check of multiple Best Buy and RadioShack stores in New York City found no phones available for customers who hadn't claimed them in advance.
"Inventory remains constrained, and it is expected that many of the iPhones that Best Buy receives will go first to customers who reserved one during presale," Best Buy warned Wednesday in a statement. The company said availability would vary store by store, and that customers should call before heading out to pick up a phone.
To prevent long lines at Apple and AT&T stores -- the only places to get the iPhone on the first day of sale in past years -- Apple delivered devices to Best Buy, RadioShack and Wal-Mart stores across the country. But the inventory was not enough to meet the wild demand for the phone.
