Math on iPhones Just Doesn't Add Up?

Tech Dirt is reporting that recently announced numbers by Apple and AT&T suggest that there is a large gap (1.7 million) between the number of iPhones being sold and those being activated. Taking into account factors like the iPhone launching outside the US and a 20% estimate of people buying the iPhone just for the purposes of unlocking, there are still 700,000 iPhones unaccounted for. "[...] suggesting that they're sitting on store shelves, piling up as unsold inventory. That number suggests at least some gap between perceived demand and actual demand -- while also raising questions about how much effort it will take to eat through that inventory."

Comments

i know!

[vanDrunen]

They all got blended:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

Re:i know!

[flyingsquid]

The Apple fanboys don't actually use them. They just stare, doe-eyed and utterly enraptured, at the sleek lucite and brushed aluminum, totally lost in the beauty of its industrial design. Occasionally they caress the device or whisper sweet nothings to it.

Re:i know!

[Anonymous Coward]

my precious

Re:i know!

[ContractualObligatio]

Actually, I didn't even take mine out of the box. I know it was perfect the day Steve Jobs announced it, why sully it with the imperfect air which I breathe? Let it's perfection remain untarnished for ever more!

Re:i know!

[Reality Master 101]

You know, I have no love for Apple (I actually hate the company), but I did buy an iPhone, because it has the best browser and best map application (I wanted a browser with a phone, not a phone with a browser).

That said, I have to say one thing. The iPhone came in the nicest box and packaging I've ever seen. It's almost decadent, how thick the cardboard is and how nicely constructed it is. The iPhone comes cradled in this thick, thick, clear plastic holder. The manual came in an elegant black envelope. You have to see the thing to believe it.

I seriously can't bring myself to throw it away. It's utterly useless at this point, but it's so nice, it feels like I'm being wasteful by putting in the trash.

It actually gives me another reason to hate Apple. There is absolutely no reason that this box is necessary, and it really is a waste of resources. I think they used an entire tree to produce the box.

Re:Terrorists buying them to make a Beowulf Cluste

[flyingsquid]

The iPhone is the cool new thing.

Totally. Kim Jong Il got one, and now Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama Bin Laden are really jealous, to the point that it's threatening to completely disrupt the Axis of Evil. It doesn't help that Osama got a brown Zune for Christmas and now Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinejad are teasing him mercilessly about it.

Or Bricked

[Skevin]

I work as a Construction Contractor for some rather extravagant celebrities*. One of my more indulgent clients asked what was the most expensive building materials I've ever seen. Well, I heard on Slashdot that unlocked iPhones make excellent bricks...

Tomorrow, I'm getting my sixth truckload. The North Wing is almost complete, and then I'll start working on the guest house.

* (just kidding, of course. I'm a working techie stiff just like everyone else here)

Solomon

Re:Terrorists buying them to make a Beowulf Cluste

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Osama's not so pissed that he got a Zune as that he got it for Christmas .

Re:Enough anti-iPhone FUD to choke on...

[LearnToSpell]

And do you think AT&T is stupid enough to take inventory of 700,000 phones at once?

Having been on the phone with AT&T for the last four hours, yes, yes I do.