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March 23, 2007

iphone

eBay decides iPhone auction is a big no-no

Posted Mar. 23, ’07, 6:02 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | iPhone

iphoneebay.jpg

You might’ve heard in the last few days about the guy who was selling six iPhones on eBay. Yes, that same iPhone that’s coming out in June. Well, eBay spotted the dude and pulled the auction.

Here’s the story: a sly mind, going by the name of rgonzales23455, was selling six units of Apple’s upcoming phone, and the crazy thing is people were actually bidding on it… as much as $1,125 for one iPhone. That guy who bid more than $1K has something to say:

“Besides, there are rumors of iPhones being shipped as early as early April, and there’s always a chance this seller managed to get one somehow. Further, it’s not unheard of for a company to pre-release high end items early and unannounced to measure market acceptance.”

First, recent experience with Apple has proven then when they don’t stick to their deadlines, they ship products late, not early (Apple TV anyone?). Second, somehow I don’t think Apple really needs to measure market acceptance — it’s pretty safe to say the iPhone will get accepted well enough.


7 Comments

GRant said:

The buyer was much more intelligent than he comes across in the quote that you chose. He did it because it was a PayPal auction, so he could get all of his money back if he didn't end up with an iPhone. No risk for the possibility of getting an iPhone right now. Pretty smart guy.

March 23, 2007 7:49 PM
Dave said:

Intel-based Macs anyone?

The first was released 6 months ahead of schedule and the entire line was changed a year early.

That said, you'd be a complete idiot to believe that.

March 23, 2007 8:44 PM
jtfineart said:

Hey. This perk my attention. I was wondering if Apple did release a very select few out there early. My Daughter goes to school in New Canaan, Ct. She has said several times that one kid in school already has one. I said "impossible". She said she saw it again just last week. She even commented about the touch screen was as a dailpad. I mean would Cingular even set it up for anyone yet. This Ebay article would indicate that there are really none out there. You guys think this is possible? Can anyone really have one except Steve and and a few other top Apple execs???? I am going to see if I can get a view of it. I'll let you know next week.

March 23, 2007 10:51 PM
jackfrost said:

@jtfineart: I don't think that there could be any in the wild yet. We'd certainly have seen news of such in at least a few Apple rumors sites. Even if they did manage to keep it secret, that doesn't take into account the fact that the FCC has not approved the iPhone yet. They're not legally allowed to use it. Your daughter has probably seen a Treo or such with an iPhone theme installed.

March 24, 2007 9:55 AM
Mark 2000 said:

Where this all falls down is that you need a contract from Cingular to use the thing. You can only ever buy one in an Apple or Cingular store and if you do I'd like to see you transfer your 2 year contract to another person along with selling them the phone on Ebay. It's just impossible.

March 24, 2007 10:54 AM
ryan said:

IANAL but the wording on the iPhone page(s) makes it sound like it's only illegal to sell them. Maybe they've gifted a few to some "high-profile people"...?

Buying one before it clears the FCC may not be a crime but the ebay-seller (if it's true/real) could be opening ebay and himself to legal trouble.

March 25, 2007 10:57 AM
Frank said:


You could probably use a tool like Winhex to copy the drive in XP/Vista.

Not sure what you'd use to change the partition size. I have found that, even with this great Apple TV we

still need a video converter (things like Apple TV Converter) in case to put our favourite movies onto

Apple TV before playing them on TV Screen.


My apple tv converter
http://www.apple-tv-converter.com

March 27, 2007 1:23 AM

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