Beijing. Apple flagship store. Scalpers lined up to overpay for a phone that was already overpriced.
The iPhone Duo is foldable. So are the dreams of everyone holding it.
Consider the scalper's business model. Buy a phone from Apple. Stand outside Apple. Offer the person leaving Apple hundreds of dollars more than Apple charged. Then sell it to someone who was too lazy to stand outside Apple.
That is not arbitrage. That is a hobby with a lanyard.
Now consider the buyer who sells. He waited in line, secured the device, held it for four minutes, and handed it to a stranger for a modest profit. He could have kept the phone. He chose cash. In Beijing. Outside a store. Out in the open air.
Retail traders should study this crowd. These people understand supply, demand, and the thrill of being the second-most-desperate person in a transaction. You do the same thing every time you buy a stock after it's already up 40 percent. You just don't get a phone out of it.
Apple will call this strong demand. Analysts will call it a signal. I call it a man in a puffer jacket holding a wad of yuan, waiting for a stranger to blink.
A foldable phone creases at the exact spot you use most. Engineers know this. Buyers know this. Scalpers know this and pay extra anyway. That is the purest market in the world.
If you bought one at the premium, congratulations. You now own a screen with a seam and a story you can't tell at dinner.
The phone folds in half. Your resale value folds faster.
Leave a Comment