Woman tried to buy $100,000 worth of original iPhones but it didn't go as planned

Back in 2007 when the first ever iPhone came out, there was one hell of a struggle from people desperate to get their hands on one.

We now know what smartphones would end up doing to the world of technology and the impact it would have on our personal lives, you're probably reading this on your smartphone right now.

However, back before the iPhone, people were spending all their time with a Blackberry, flip phone or one of those near-indestructible Nokias where the best you could expect was to be able to play Snake on it.

That's why when the iPhone was released people camped outside stores to be at the front of queues to get their hands on it, but one woman's plan to be first and get as many smartphones as she could backfired horribly.

One day late in June 2007, the original iPhone was released and outside a store in Dallas, Texas, one woman showed up with $100,000 and a determination to walk away with as many phones as possible.

Fox 4 Dallas

She even paid the guy at the front of the queue $800 to take his place she didn't have to camp outside the store for hours and could be the first one to make it inside.

The woman declared that her intentions with attempting to buy $100,000 worth of the new iPhones was to resell them on eBay, essentially becoming a scalper, someone who gets in first and buys up all of something people want to resell it on at a much higher price.

When they first went on sale original iPhones went for about $499 each but she was sure she could make double that on each one she bought by reselling it on eBay.

However, her plan hit a snag when the store's doors opened and she was the first customer in as she was promptly told that they were limiting sales to one per customer.

It was a measure introduced precisely to block someone from doing what she did and to ensure that as many people queuing up could get their hands on one.

PA Images / Alamy

In the end she'd started her day declaring she'd be 'buying $100,000 worth of iPhones' and ended it very much not doing that, having instead paid a guy $800 so she could be disappointed as soon as possible.

Still, it worked out pretty well for the guy she bribed to queue jump, he'd have been able to buy his iPhone with that cash and still have some left over.

Perhaps she ought to have bought the phone anyway and just kept it in the box as a collector's item, as an original iPhone from 2007 in mint condition sold at auction last year for $39,339.

That's more than 75 times the original retail price, proving that all good things come to those who wait.

Topics: US News, iPhone, Technology, Money

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker