[NOTE: I started this post months ago]
I recently picked up an iPhone 3G and like many others experienced the pain of waiting in line for a few hours. As a product guy I appreciate the enormous effort and coordination required to pull off a product launch like this across multiple organizations but I was also fascinated by what I saw while waiting in line.
I was surprised was the number of people that already had iPhones who were waiting in line to get a new one. In fact the majority of people in line (at least my line) already had an iPhone. It was hard to believe that existing iPhone owners who could actually get the 2.0 software free were waiting for hours and hours for the new phone. It was also amazing how people could take off work to go stand in line for extended periods of time. It would be amusing to see how much productivity was lost nationally on that day.
Most folks, like myself, didn’t realize how long it was going to take to get a phone but eventually the invisible hand showed up and people saw the opportunity to sell their phone. After waiting an hour or so a woman came out of the Apple store, where she was waiting, and offered her place in line for $50. It was the first of several offers from folks that had to leave or wanted the cash. Towards the end I saw one spot go for $250. Where there is a need there is a market.
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