A lack of significantly-above-retail eBay prices for the iPhone doesn't necessarily mean that there's a bubble. Instead, what I take from it is that either there seems to be enough stock, which might signal a deliberate effort to avoid undersupply and discourage price gouging on eBay, or that people are confident there will be. I'd never pay thousands for a game system or phone secondhand online, so I'm encouraged that maybe other people are making a similarly prudent choice.

But obviously sales aren't going to stay at the same rate consistently. They don't seem to for movies, music, books or most other new electronics, after all; why would it start now?

Isn't there always a bubble at the launch of a new product that's highly anticipated by a loyal customer base?

Of course sales are going to slow down. Could be a lot. This is a first generation model. New customers and more casual Apple customers like myself will wait for bugs to be worked out and for things like more service providers.

But I don't think I can recall another company who endures this sort of attention to its products where it seems everyone is almost hoping that it's a failure or flawed in some manner -- that Apple not have a success. Even Microsoft which releases patch after patch for its OS and delayed Vista so long...even though they hyped it as much as Apple (indeed, I'd love to see a comparison of marketing budgets) there wasn't this near-glee that Microsoft fail. Maybe because people are conditioned to expect unending announcements of flaws in Windows?

Apple puts out decent products. They're profitable. They have loyal customers. It's a successful company, if smaller than its main competitor. Maybe that's it. America loves to see an underdog do well only to get to the part where they can jeer it for being a success.

Maybe. I have to say this though: I know a lot of people ditching Verizon and Sprint to get this phone. It does work outside the USA, but not with carriers outside the USA. You also have to take into account the flashiness: Anyone who has asked me to show them my iPhone has been so impressed that they are getting one soon.

Are you crazy? Not everyone is an eBay opportunist, trying to make a quick buck. Apple knew exactly how many iPhones to release on opening day. They balanced the supply and demand perfectly, so as to avoid what happened with the Play Station when it was released. I don't know for sure, but I believe there were less than 10,000 pawners trying to hawk the iPhone on Ebay. That's a small amount when you consider Apple has sold at least 500,000 to 700,000 iPhones since it's release. I won't be surprised if Apple announces by the end of next week that they have hit 1 million in sales.

you missed the fellow from UK who paid $10500 for 2 phones to a guy in hicksville ny, and the iPhone collection with starting bid of $125m.

http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-ORIGINAL-IPHONE-COLLECTION_W0QQitemZ290132615214QQihZ019QQcategoryZ1503QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I don't know whay you presume that everyone is reselling their phones. It's true that most people were buying 2 but I did so because I was also buying for my spouse who hates crowds.

I can imagine that many or most of the double purchasers were buying for friends or family who wouldn't otherwise bother with the inconveniences of the product release rush.

One thing that would clearly deter people from buying and reselling is that when you buy the phone, you have to get a GSM chip and a two-year service contract (as far as I know). Also many existing GSM phone users (like T-Mobile) already have existing contracts and cannot easily transfer their current phone number to the i-phone, because it is locked to AT&T.

You can't sell the phone with the original chip that is registered to you, at least not if you don't want to run foul of anti-terrorism laws. If the phone is unlocked so that it can be used with any carrier, then its value is increased.

There are already people advertising unlocked i-phones "coming soon", so I would not be surprised if Apple has carefully leaked how the phone may be unlocked and used with any GSM carrier. This would enormously increase its saleability worldwide, especially in markets where there are only two main carriers and people are reluctant to switch, or for people who travel overseas.

For example with my unlocked Voq smart phone (cost <$100) I can use a local cell phone service wherever I am simply by setting up service and inserting a locally issued GSM chip into my phone. As things stand, you can't do this with the i-phone, though I predict that unlocking i-phones will soon be big business.

I looked on E-bay and could not find ANY i-phones on sale. There were about 7000 silicone covers for i-phones, but that is hardly the same thing.

At least Apple and others talk about product "sold", unlike Microsoft's Hype on the Zune, which touted numbers "shipped" to retailers.

I think that is likely to be alot of unhappy purchasers, once people realize just how tiny 8g is for something that claims to be a portable storage unit for music, video, and image files - let alone the just plain silly 4g model. And just wait until the first owners need to replace the battery and discover they are out the use of their phone until they can have it serviced! And don't even get me started on a battery life that is more appropriate to a gaming device (which saddly this device is not) than a cell-phone.

When I saw all of the cool features of the iPhone, I was about ready to race out and buy one, but the specs hit me like a bucket of cold water on me. I'll wait until they come out with the 40 and 80g version with the longer battery life that is easily swapped out by the user. I expectt a much better version will be out for the Holidays.

Amerigo: They are "locked" for a reason. AT&T developed the back end to support such things as visual voicemail, etc. I'm sure someone will unlock a iPhone within the week, considering the high profile of the release. People have already figured out how to activate one (just for wifi) using two iPhones. The fact is, even if you were sly enough to unlock one, you would have a phone with no voicemail ability and quite possibly other problems as well.

Dfield: 4 GB is "silly", eh? Try appropriate. In my case, it's perfect. I don't need my whole damn collection of mp3s, movies, etc. on my phone. I'd rather be selective rather than cram everything in there. 4 GB is still big enough for all your email, a few movies, some albums, plenty of photos. I'm sure they will increase capacity, but remember that not everyone needs a 300 Terabyte cell phone anytime soon.