limiting supply
So far I haven't seen anyone addressing the obvious issue. "Iphone sold out...," what could the reasons be?
1. "They are concerned that [X] feature isn't ready!" No. They would have simply pushed back the release date. It's better to slightly tick off everyone over a changed release date than to release it to a small fraction of the interested consumers who can then talk about how [X] feature sucks.
2. "They didn't make enough to meet demand!" No. This is not an entirely new product, it's a revision of a somewhat successful one. They had a full year to get production into gear and gauge demand for this thing. And from the first day, they were constricting supply.
Struggle for a while and you might arrive at:
3. "They are intentionally constricting supply to create a frenzied buying atmosphere." Yup. It's a gamble, but Apple is wagering that its loyal fans trust so deeply in their benevolence that this notion wouldn't even occur to you.
Companies have done this with many products in the past (Volkswagon beetle, for example), and it tends to encourage psychological distortion over the product's value -- "I waited in line for 7 hours for this thing and was the first to get it, look how awesome it is!," etc. Be careful when a company is making you jump through hoops to get its product, there's probably a reason for it that's less than admirable.
As soon as Apple behaves more like they want to sell to me and less like Machiavelli / Rove /

, I'll be happy to buy one. For now, my life is complete without it.