A thought for you - Lessons Apple can learn.
At the moment, someone's contracted me to pick up then post a 32GB iphone 3GS to them, which means for at least two hours, I'll be carrying a mobile phone for probably the first and only time for a very long time, possibly ever.

And during the conversation, something came up, which surprised me.

Him: "This will send me broke for a week, but ****it."
Me: "The 3GS isn't actually GOING anywhere, you know.
"I mean it's not like it's a collector's edition of an iphone."

... Hold that thought...

The iPhone is one of the hottest items on the planet - It carries a smooth mix of good hardware, well planned functionality, and a good dash of status mixed in. If nothing else, Apple have made a product that people desire, talk about and will do a lot for.

It's one of the items where there's a groundswell of people who are just willing to sell Apple, free of charge, because of its merits or badge.

So I suppose that leaves the question for Apple - Why haven't they taken a page from what the Japanese have been doing with their Anime and Gaming for years? Why on earth haven't they made limited editions of the iPhones? Why on earth haven't they partnered up with the likes of the big shots and fired broadside artillery strikes to make that fanbase explode?

Think about this for a moment - Imagine if they made a Dragon Quest limited edition iPhone. Or a Final Fantasy one. Coupled with extras, both software launch and hardware mods. I don't know, a slime engraved at the back here, maybe a FF7 logo on the corner of another... Maybe an exclusive cover plate or theme, or chain? Perhaps a iphone version of a game or an episode of a show, anime or series pre-loaded before its screendate? Strictly stocked to a number of units, and that's all you're getting.

To be fair, some items may be made available to the general public after a period of time.

It sounds patiently absurd, doesn't it? Why would Apple need to be schooled by a whole bunch of foreigners? It's got its own gig going, why does it need help from anyone else?

But here's the thing. It's no more patiently absurd than releasing a 360 package with a faceplate for the system for the upcoming game. Or an anime DVD collector's edition which also happens to have a figure of one of the characters in it. Music CDs coming with games, little bits and pieces, and all sorts of other trinklets which drive the partners' collective sales up, and drive the fanatism and the devotion of its fans.

Even though if you really sat down and thought about it, it's completely not rational. Why would we be driven to pick up something that's in short supply at a huge premium that probably isn't worth that premium and in the end is just a bit of plastic or paper? The Japanese take this to absurd extremes - almost every game and anime you could name that's been released as some sort of limited edition and has some extras attached. They do it so often, it's hard to name a retail boxed item that doesn't do this.

But what many people forget is that particularly in the advertising and marketting space, it's rarely about being rational, and you tend to be much more successful forcing an emotional message. It's better for people to feel something about a product, than to think something, because if you're thinking about it, you can at least detect you're being advertised to. If you're feeling something, you aren't usually thinking about if what you're seeing is an ad to get you to buy something.

There's the thing. Japan has held its entertainment market captive for a long, long time, and as we well know, there's a lot of crazy fans who apparently have really deep pockets, or will move Heaven and Earth to get the collector's editions of anime, games and other entertainment. When a limited edition comes out, the yen get slammed on the table, and it moves stock. It doesn't work all the time, but that's the nature of business, isn't it?

And that there shows that the big entertainment companies have something there to teach Apple, because they've done the one thing Apple hasn't really branched into yet - branded, paced yet constant exclusivity.

At the moment, we see Apple as a cultural badge. There are businesses that purchase the iphone as well and you'd argue that having any 'limited editions' would not work.

So can be learnt from the Japanese model? Partnerships of brand promotion, and the constant promise of having something unique and so like them to keep them coming back.

For those who want to make statements for personal use, recreational iphones and accessories would work wonders, and profit can be made for all, as long as Apple figure out exactly who they want to be associated with in partnership with. From a personal point of view, I'd easily would drop $3000 AU to pick up an idolm@ster or Atelier Rorona themed iphone (Currently the most expensive iphone is $1040 AU. I should know, considering I'm commissioned to buy one for someone else.), even though I have as much of an interest in a phone as a jellyfish has in a blast furnace.

If Namco-Bandai partnered up and it was done properly, I'd wager the iphone would be sold out within the week, and Apple would have a market value far greater than Microsoft's, right there and then.

You'd pick your alliances carefully, but not so carefully you don't change often enough. You'd pace it so that consumers could upgrade their iphone up every so often with selections which spell out exclusivity. They don't all have to be physical, just things that people can collect and associate with them. Make it theirs, make it regular and make them expect it.

But you ask, what on earth would Apple offer to Businesses who issue out iphones to its staff? A significant amount of sales go towards business users after all.

Advertising doesn't need to be large scale - it can be focused to impress a few people, and it doesn't need to even be aimed externally. Brand the phone with the company, and have a bit of customisation to make the phones owned by the company, given to the individual.

I'm sure if you worked at Google and you walked into the meeting and used a phone that was distinctly Google's, and happened to have some custom software which could do things that the iphone standard didn't do, people would be impressed. Internally, people would feel that the company gave them something, giving them a reason to stay a little longer. Not that it'll happen because of Android, but it's certainly something to keep in mind.

So yes, the question remains, Apple has gone a long way, but why haven't they asked the questions to an industry which has practiced exclusivity to an absurd length, and have done so for so long and gotten away with it while conditioning consumers to keep an eye out for it?

Funny how sometimes the best answers come from sections you wouldn't expect.