Interesting story starting to appear across the pond on the UK news wires, with sites such as Electric Pig reporting that things are either looking good or bad for the Apple iPhone 3G depending on which way you look at the news.

That news being the sole network supplying the 3g Jesus Phone in the UK, 02, has totally sold out of the new handset some 4 days before the official launch this coming Friday.

Of course, strange marketing tactics and Apple iPhones are not exactly strangers it has to be said. And the news that 02 is telling enquiring customers to call back on the 10th July, one day before the units start to go in sale, suggests that this could just be a tactic to ensure media coverage.

In which case, mea culpa, it worked.

Whatever, when I just checked the 02 website there was a notice posted which said "Due to huge demand for the iPhone 3G we’re currently out of stock online. Come back on 10 July for more information."

Which would mean that, in effect, 02 sold out of allocated supplies within around 6 hours of starting to take online orders.