Apple says that its online shops in the U.S. and the U.K. are sold out of iPhones, a sure sign that it is preparing for the imminent launch of 3G variants by first clearing out old inventory. The new iPhone is expected to be announced and launched in June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. 

If you recall, Apple previously announced its intention of selling 10 million phones by the end of 2008. It currently has achieved about 54 percent of this figure, or 5.4 million iPhones. 

To help hit its stated target, Apple earlier announced a slew of software updates this summer to make the iPhone work more efficiently with the enterprise. In addition, it also aggressively inked deals with wireless carriers around the world. In fact, another four partners were announced this past Monday: SingTel in Singapore, Bharti Airtel in India, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Optus in Australia. 

For more on Apple's iPhone:
- check out this TechNewsWorld article [1]