In addition, the company has stopped accepting cash for the iPhones it is selling at Apple’s retail stores. Instead, the company is asking for a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.

Initially, Apple had announced to sell five iPhones per person, but this reportedly proved to be too tempting for the hackers. Confirming this view, Apple COO Tim Cook had said last week that the company believes that of the 1.4 million iPhones bought since its launch on June 29 this year, around 250,000 phones were purchased with the purpose of unlocking them.

Some experts, however, are of the opinion that the ‘restrictions on iPhone sales’ have little to do with censoring the unlocking business, and more with Apple's holiday marketing and sales strategy. This seems a bit far fetched to me, but as Howe points out, They believe that Apple possibly wants to preserve iPhone stocks and make the most sales to customers who will generate additional carrier revenue payments during the ensuing holiday shopping season.

They point out that despite what seems like an endless iPhone launch, the iPhone has only been on the market for four months now, and Apple's manufacturing capacity is probably still only about 500,000 iPhones a month. With the iPhone launching in Germany and the UK in two weeks and in France in a month and with holiday shopping demand ramping up, the last thing Apple wants to happen is to run out of iPhones for any of its markets.

This view was echoed by an Apple spokesperson who said that the customer response to the iPhone has been overwhelming and restricting iPhone sales to two per customer helps the company to ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift.

The iPhone was launched on June 29 and has become a popular device thanks to its ability to act as a phone, a music player as well as a web browser.