I hate to say it, but the iPhone is already a success

Apple doesn't need to actually sell a single iPhone for it to be a huge success. With people already waiting outside of stores for Friday's launch and the whole internet going apeshit over this thing, it has already done exactly what Apple wanted it to do.

It has created an immense amount of hype over the brand Apple. Yes, Apple is going to sell millions of iPhones and they are standing to make a decent profit from it as well. But that doesn't really even matter as much as the effect that the iPhone has already had on Apple's imaging. The general public is viewing the iPhone as the greatest gadget ever created. I have even heard it being referred to as the "Jesus Phone." Come on, that's a bit of an extreme statement, right?

It doesn't matter that the phone has some serious shortcomings. As long as everyone goes nuts over the idea of it, Apple's name is always going to be fresh in their minds. Essentially, the iPhone is just one gigantic advertising campaign for Apple...and it's working. And if the phone were to fail to sell in mass numbers, which it won't, Apple's work here is already done.