Apple lowers number of iPhones you can buy

In another “WTF?” move from Apple over the weekend, they lowered the number of iPhones that you can purchase at one time from 5 to 2 per person. So let me get this straight, they dropped the price by $200 in a very short time and pissed off all the early adopters and said that it was so they could sell more during the holiday season, yet now they are lowering the number of the device that you can buy?

Insiders are claiming its so they can keep demand up during the holiday season. Now I don’t know much about economics, but I’ve taken a few courses, and lowering supply to increase demand is a good move, but only when your product is overpriced, I’d say that the 1 million+ people that have already bought one are pretty good evidence that the price really isn’t too high, so what are they really playing at here?

Others say its because there are lots people buying batches of iPhones, unlocking them, and then selling them either on the US or the foreign black markets. Once again, I don’t get how this would have a negative affect for Apple, sure the ones being sold unlocked in the US screws Apple out of the 30% of the 2 year contract with AT&T, but if I had to guess, the majority of those iPhones being unlocked and sold are being exported, likely to countries that don’t have an iPhone carrier yet, which is pretty much everywhere but US and the UK. So, why stifle sales of a device you make a killer profit of, when the extras are being sent over to places you will likely be years before you negotiate contracts with?

Apple limiting iPhone sales to 3. [via looprumors]