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Fixed Mobile Handsets Special Feature

Bookmakers bet on iPhone

27 June 2007
Telecoms Special Features

As the hype over the iPhone reaches fever pitch, prior to the Apple device's launch on Friday, every man and his dog in the telecoms industry has been eager to comment on the device in the hope of getting some coverage in the press.

telecoms.com has received what can only be described as a deluge of proposals and releases all running along the lines of, "With the release of the iPhone, [company x] thinks... [that some other, non-related, technology or device is suddenly important]".

So it was interesting to see a refreshing, if slightly gruesome, take on the device from US bookmaker BetUS.com.

BetUS is offering odds of 20/1 that someone is trampled while trying to get an iPhone and odds of 150/1 that an iPhone spontaneously combusts.

We don't know about the chances of combustion but a scrum looks likely. There having already been reports of people camping outside shops to get an early place in the queue and AT&T has taken on another 2,000 staff to cope with the rush. "If there are crowds, we will be prepared to handle them," said a spokesman for the carrier.

BetUS.com spokesman Reed Richards has also been seeding a bit of doubt about the likelihood of the device breaking. "This phone has everything but the kitchen sink," he said. "With the seemingly endless options that the phone offers, the chances for a malfunction are likely."

The betting shop is offering odds of 30/1 that the initial iPhones get recalled, odds of 150/1 that the screen cracks like first generation nano and odds of 10/1 that there are mass reports of the battery life being less than the promised 8 hours.

The likelihood of Apple shifting at least 12 million units in 2008 is 5/6 according to the bookmaker, while the odds of consumers paying at least three times the original price ($1500) on eBay are 2/1. Although the grey market might have had the bottom ripped out of it by the fact that in order to activate the device, you need to sign up for an AT&T service plan via iTunes. It is also understood that you need to use AT&T's network to access the services like Visual Voicemail.

In other news, telecoms.com carried out  a quick straw poll of telecoms journalists and can exclusively reveal that 100 per cent of respondents are bored of reading about the iPhone already. A similar number are also bored of writing about it.

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