Scarcity

This is spot on, I've wondered about the economics of scarcity for a while. How does it apply to selling accounts for a hot web service? Maybe give them away for free while you're obscure, grant invitation privileges to the early adopters and start charging when the mass of users rolls in. Bonus points for raising the price, the more well-known you become. Can you share your success with the early adopters? Maybe allow them to sell their contingent of free accounts somehow?

Apple's "botched" shortages get it access to the scarcest medium of all: TV news. All of the TV news broadcasts here in Toronto had a big story about the Canadian iPhone launch because long lines with ecstatic and dejected fans are perfect for TV. Using the Internet to form a queue wouldn't get TV coverage because there's nothing visual or emotional to show.

Is it just me or others agree that submitting Seth's posts on HN is a bit of cheeky karma-earning hack? Almost everything Seth writes is 'worth' submitting but given the high frequency of his posts, it's almost pointless to post them on HN.<p>I'm not one for bans, but I'd request people to take it easy on those Godin posts.