Apple Airport devices out of stock in many stores, does that mean a refresh is coming?

If you are a fan of Apple gear, any time things are out of stock widely that often hints that a refresh is on the way. Apple is generally really good at keeping things in stock so low availability is often an early sign a new version of whatever is not in stock is coming soon. This time around, the products with limited availability are the AirPort devices. Apparently, Apple fans are tipping TUAW that the devices are widely out of stock.

One tipster says that the Apple Stores in his area are out of the AirPort Express device and that shortage was confirmed by another source. The second source says that not only is the Express out of stock, but the Extreme and the Time Capsule back up device is out of stock as well. The more interesting tip comes by way of another TUAW tipster that says that his store has never been low on stock.

The same source then says that his location "may have" been told to return their remaining stock to Apple. The thought is that perhaps the update of the products will be tied to the new iCloud offering expected to be announced at WWDC. With WWDC thought to be software centric even this year an unveiling of AirPort devices there isn't expected. It's worth noting that the online store still lists the gear as shipping in 24 hours.

[via TUAW]