Bidding for iPhone 3G tops $1,000 on eBay

IDG News Service - Pent-up demand for the iPhone 3G is manifesting itself on auction site eBay, where eager buyers are bidding in excess of $1,000 to get what's turning out to be a hot commodity.

Demand for the iPhone remains high, with lines forming today outside an Apple retail store in New York to buy the limited stock of the devices.

Launched July 11, the phone sold more than 1 million units worldwide over the first weekend, according to analysts. The demand has continued, with carriers — including AT&T Inc. in the U.S. and O2 in the U.K. — reporting iPhone 3G shortages. The 16GB iPhone is priced at $299 in the U.S., with the 8GB version priced at $199. In some countries, carriers are giving the iPhone for free with wireless service contracts.

The bidding for a 16GB iPhone 3G on eBay is exceeding $1,000, with one bid ending at $2,325. The average 8GB iPhone 3G bid is reaching the $800 to $900 range.

In one auction, a potential bidder asked if the iPhone could be shipped to Indonesia, indicating that bids were coming from countries where the iPhone won't be shipped until the end of this year. The phone is sold in 20 countries, but Apple hopes to expand its availability to 70 countries by year's end.

The sellers are advertising the iPhones as "unlocked" to work with any carrier and are providing a link to a recent hack issued to unlock the iPhone.

Supplies should normalize over the quarter, and the iPhone 3G is set for long-term success, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, in a report. Apple could ship as many as 5.1 million iPhones in the quarter.

Elizabeth Montalbano of the IDG News Service in New York contributed to this story.

Reprinted with permission from

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