Want An iPhone? Head To The AT&T Store - Fast (AAPL)

“You don’t have any iPhones?”

“When will more come in?”

“But the AT&T store isn’t as cool as the Apple store.”

We made that last quote up. But we heard the other two over and over again as we watched stymied shoppers mill around a Valley Apple store Tuesday night, hoping to find a spare iPhone for sale. No dice.

A clerk told us the store had been out of iPhones since Friday, and that every Apple store in the Bay Area was out, too. If you could hold your nose and visit the AT&T store in the same mall, you could still buy one, but only if you moved fast: They had 3 iPhones left, down from almost 40 last week.

Two guys who came in specifically to buy an iPhone left more frustrated than the rest. The reason? They were from Germany, and are returning today. They were hoping to get phones cheaper than the 499 euros it costs back home (almost $800).

“That was our only goal” for the trip, said Sascha who declined to give his last name. (Psst! Sascha! Probably easier to visit NYC next time you fly in for Apple gear).

One hope that seemed calm the iPhone-less masses: The notion that the iPhone shortage was just a prelude to a new 3G iPhone. But if the outage doesn't get resolved soon, look for a run on the last remaining iPhones we saw: The display models that taunted frustrated buyers.