Call-In Your Bets On the iPhone

For a few months now, since June this year, when the iPhone was launched in the United States, Europeans were watching from afar and wishing the cool gadget - the gadget that practically made 'cool' into its own trademark - would hit their stores.

This past Friday, it finally reached the stores in the United Kingdom, as well as in Germany, ahead of releases in other countries across the continent scheduled for the coming months.

Many others have followed advice, suggested by Forbes Magazine and others, to sit out this date and wait with their purchase. The highly regarded magazine said the iPhone "is slower, more expensive and less flexible than other devices available to them."

So, will the Brits buy the iPhone as Americans have? That question, apparently, has become the topic of gambling online.

The British mobile phone supplier O2 expects 200,000 units will be sold through the coming holiday season and by the end of the year. This will depend on the price tag, currently set at £269, considerably higher than the updated price overseas, which was drastically reduced about a month ago.

One topic to bet on is when the first price reduction will take place, with the following odds:

• 5-2 that it happens by January 8.
• 10-3 for a price reduction taking place between February 8 and April 8.
• 7-2 for May 8 and July 8.
• 3-1 for August 8 and October 8, and
• 9-4 for any date after October 8.

Another comic (and somewhat disconcerting too) bet that went on gave 20-1 odds that someone will get trampled on the Friday launch...