The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

Research performed at Apple retail outlets this past weekend by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster maintains that 1 iPhone was charged per hour. That's compared to 13 iPods per hour.

Compare that to this past August, when, as AppleInsider's Katie Marsal notes, 1.3 iPhones were sold each hour.

And I also point out that of the 13 iPods per hour, 46 percent were iPod nanos.

What can we read into these numbers- wspecially the proportionate decline in iPhone sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving-the busiest shopping day of the year?

It is hard for me not to maintain that the initial iPhone rush of last June was fueled by hard-core enthusiasts. That lasted thru summer. Now, it may be that the slower rate of iPhone purchases is being driven by three facts:

Most everyone who REALLY, REALLY wanted an iPhone already has one;

Conditioned by Apple's iPhone pricing policies, potential iPhone purchasers are holding out for the next price decrease after the first of next year, and;

Other potential iPhone acquirers are waiting for their current wireless carrier service contracts to expire before they jump ship to AT&T Mobility and buy an iPhone.