You know what they say about squeaky wheels and all...
Funny how many iPhones have sold compared to the miniscule number of problems I actually read about.
I'm always surprised how one person gets three bad phones yet most people only ever have one. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't until my third original iPhone that I got a keeper (first two had screen issues). My girlfriend's was perfect from the start and my iPhone 3G was perfect from the start.
With over 17 million iPhones reported sold by Apple and probably another 3-4 million this quarter, the anecdotal message board failure rate is extremely low. Actual studies have shown a very high rating for the iPhone.
Obviously though, if you've personally had issues with the iPhone who can blame you.
Good post! Thanks.