iPhone Cometh to eBay

While some hopefuls are selling it for well over $999 hoping to make a good $399 profit the realists are settling for just a mere $700, it looks like the iPhone isn't causing any world revolutions, just yet.

When another incredibly hyped product, the Playstation 3, launched it was selling for well over twice its own retail value, granted this lasted for a mere two days but it did happen. The iPhone is barely selling $100 over its retail price. Add to that eBays commission fees and it looks like the campers could have made more spitting into Hamburgers for the one night they camped out.

Of course with a two year service contract for an expensive phone with many features you know you don't want and a design mantra typical of Apples 'so easy to use, no one can use it!' it would be hard to make a sale. No doubt if Apple learns something and hopefully releases some sort of software update the iPhone will be reasonable competition against the other smartphones in the industry.

Then again, I'm saving my dough for the open source alternative.

iPhone Comparison

The iPhone is shaping up to be the next big thing in the tech industry, it may soon revolutionize mobile phones as the iPod did mp3 players. Or, maybe not the way the iPod revolutionized mp3 players, maybe something like the Playstation 3 revolutionizing the console market.

Price: $600 for Playstation 3, $499 - $599 for iPhone.

The Playstation 3 is the most expensive gaming console ever because Sony had hoped it would sell bucket loads by being more than just a gaming console.

The iPhone is one of the more expensive mobile phones on the market because Apple is hoping it will sell bucket loads by being more than just a smart phone.


Extra (read: potentially useless) Features that are ramming up the prices: Many for the Playstation 3, Waaaay Too Many for the iPhone.

Sony took a massive risk by incorporating many features into the Playstation 3, many of which may turn out to be useless and just an excess that forces consumers to cough up extra dough for features that they will never use. These features look good on paper but may be underdeveloped, there could be other (cheaper) ways of implementing them or they don't have any practicality in real world situations.

Apple is going to be taking a massive risk by incorporating many features into the iPhone, many of which may turn out to be useless and just an excuse that forces consumers to cough up extra dough for features that they will never use. These features look good on paper but may be underdeveloped, there could be other (cheaper) ways of implementing them or they don't have any practicality in real world situations.


Brand name: Playstation 3 comes from the Playstation line up, the most successful console brand in history. iPhone comes from the iPod line up, the most successful mp3 player in history.

Sony had hoped that its strong brand name would help it sell the Playstation 3, however entering the market the Playstation 3 faultered, other brands on the market had already established themselves as effective competitors. Despite not having the Playstation 3 logo they are doing quite well with some absurd names (*cough* Wii *cough*) proving that names aren't everything and technology brands are not the same as fashion lables.

Apple is hoping that its strong brand name will help it sell the iPhone, however there is the risk that when it enters the market it will faulter as other brands have already established themsleves as effective competitors. Depsite not having the Apple logo they are doing quite well with some absurd names (*cough* Motorolla *cough*) proving that names aren't everything and technology brands are not the same as fashion lables.


Achilles Heal: No hardware scaler in the Playstation 3, no 3G for the iPhone.

The lack of a working hardware scaler early on in the Playstation 3's life rendered it absoloutely useless in terms of delivering HD content to TV owners who's HDTVs didn't support 1080p and 720p, if they didn't deal with the 480i resolution on their 1080i capable HDTV set they would have to go buy a dedicated Blu-Ray player rendering one of the Playstation 3's coolest features useless (Point of note: This was repaired via a free firmware update).

The lack of 3G in the first batch of iPhones may render it useless for surfing the internet and other things such as using Google maps meaning people who don't know where the Sea Food restaraunt is will have to deal with the slow load times in the iPhone and may end up using their PCs, rendering one of the iPhones coolest features useless. (Point of note: This can only be repaired with either a last minute hardware revision before release or a waiting period for the next gen iPhone).

Creators: Playstation 3 by Ken Kutaragi, iPhone by Steve Jobs

Despite a successful history in the industry Ken Kutaragi failed to duplicate his past successes with the Playstation 3.

With a successful history in the industry Steve Jobs hopes to duplicate his past success with the iPhone.