Nokia Lumia 900 white cyan at AT&T

Consumers eyeing Nokia's Lumia 900 will now find only the black model in stock through AT&T. The carrier's Lumia 900 page shows both the white and cyan models as "temporarily out of stock." AT&T's retail outlets are also reportedly facing the same shortage, according to smartphone enthusiast site WPCentral, which says that both color models are hard, if not impossible, to find in-store. A Nokia representative confirmed the shortage. "We have certainly seen that while all of the Nokia Lumia 900 devices have been popular, the cyan and white have been especially in demand -- which, as you might expect, accounts for those versions being especially difficult to find," the rep told CNET. "We are continuing to build and ship all color variants of the Nokia Lumia 900 as quickly as possible, and are regularly shipping out new product on a daily basis." Certain retailers beyond AT&T are facing their own shortages of the 900, which runs on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Amazon is selling the black version but is listing the white model as unavailable and the cyan model as backordered with a ship time of eight to nine days. Best Buy shows the black and cyan models as currently available. Questions have popped up over whether the shortage of the 900 is the result of limited initial stock, hot demand for the phone, or a combination of the two. The smartphone was released just over two weeks ago. Pointing out that AT&T is the only U.S. carrier for the Lumia 900, the Nokia rep called consumer reaction to the phone "positive across the channel -- including direct stores and national retail." The 900 faced an initial hiccup in the form of a software glitch preventing users from connecting to AT&T's data network. But Nokia quickly responded with a fix and $100 credit to customers. The phone has also been forced to struggle for buzz in a business dominated by Apple and Android. Even some salespeople have reportedly been hesitant to recommend the phone, instead steering customers toward the iPhone and Android handsets. Still, the 900 may give Nokia a fighting chance to carve out a much healthier niche in the tough smartphone market.