That's kind of a hokey list. I suppose they don't have a real reservation system in place or have some sort of policy limiting them from taking deposits. I think it's going to end badly. They could have 10 units come into the store and without a proper reservation system, they might very well call 50 people, leaving as many as 40 disappointed people that wouldn't have wasted their time or gas to pick up something that won't be there by the time they get around to it.

Seems to me that they're trying to determine who's actually interested in the device. This way, it takes some initiative (stop-in, call, e-mail) by the prospective buyer other than just providing their e-mail via cingular.com. I'm sure we'll hear about how many applicants Cingular received in a couple of weeks.

The news that they had received 'over a million inquiries' has been playing for so long I wonder why it isn't now 'over 2 or 3 million'?

Sounds reasonable to me.

Personally, I can't imagine someone wanting to commit in advance to the iPhone when all we know about it is Apple's advertising and a few very-limited demonstrations to reporters that were performed on a pre-release model with many features missing.

Until this device is released and some proper reviews can be written (or, at least the ability to try it out in the store), who would want to commit himself to a $600 item and a multi-year service commitment?

I'll wait for the 3G service. I don't want to give up the ten times faster internet speeds I get now on my 700p with Sprint.

I also want to see what happens with third party software. There are several programs, or types of programs, I use now. I don't want to give up that usage.

My wife, on the other hand, is ready to go now.

It's starting to feel like the Cabbage Patch Kids frenzy!