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Betting markets in everything
BetUS.com figures the odds are 20-1 that someone will get trampled while scrambling to snag one June 29. The site has also put odds on how long the batteries will last and whether the devices will be recalled.
Here is the source, and thanks to John De Palma for the pointer. There are many other odds at the link, spontaneous combustion of the phone is listed at 150-1.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 25, 2007 at 06:52 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
What are the odds of us knowing that the post is about the iphone without Mr. Cowen telling us?
Posted by: Linkt at Jun 25, 2007 9:11:35 PM
It took me until the second sentence.
Posted by: doctorpat at Jun 25, 2007 10:20:43 PM
!
Posted by: fustercluck at Jun 25, 2007 11:39:08 PM
Yes, I just wanted to clarify for those who may not know: this post is about the Apple brand cell phone, "iPhone" (snooze...), pronounced "eye-phone", that comes out June 29, not the eagerly anticipated Pokemon Battle Revolution video game, which came out today (squeee!).
Posted by: zlguocius at Jun 26, 2007 3:00:50 AM
What are the odds that it'll be a dud?
Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at Jun 26, 2007 7:17:28 AM
When I first read the item I thought that the trampling had to do with Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run ball.
Posted by: Peter at Jun 26, 2007 9:44:18 AM
what i like about this is the chance to hedge your purchase of the phone a little bit. if battery life is a major concern, which it is for me, you can put a $60 bet against the battery life and either a) lose the bet and a little bit of cash but have the phone you were looking for or b) cover the price of the phone if it doesn't live up to what you were hoping
Posted by: tom at Jun 26, 2007 2:56:40 PM
I don't see any mention of these odds on the betus.com website - perhaps this is like those Vegas bookies who sometimes issue "odds" on events they will not actually take bets on?
Posted by: Robin Hanson at Jun 27, 2007 2:44:08 PM
At first I thought it was about the new Harry Potter book...
Posted by: Devin McCullen at Jun 28, 2007 5:02:45 PM
