[madgunde]

I was first in line at a local Rogers store here in Mississauga on launch day. Got the first black 16GB iPhone 3G the store sold, it had a crack from the headphone jack leading down the back of the unit about 4mm right out of the box, so they had to give me another one (thankfully I noticed it while in the store). Felt bad for the guy in line a few spots back who now missed out on his 16GB iPhone because the store had to replace mine. Both my new black model and my wife's white seem to be OK so far.

 

[madgunde]

I wonder if this is an issue with iPhones sold in the first few days?

If the cracks are due to a manufacturing defect (bad batch of plastic, machinery or human error) and assuming it's widespread, then it'll likely be quickly identified and resolved. There's always the possibility that it could be rough handling of the shipment though. There isn't much/any soft padding around the iPhone in the box, so it's possible that if the carton were to be dropped hard enough that it could cause the plastic to crack I suppose. If this is the case, it could happen at any point, but if it's widespread enough, then it could also be resolved by a change to the packaging and/or shipping containers.

But if the cracks are developing after purchase, then that indicates it's not damage from shipping but either a design or material flaw.

 

[madgunde]

I was first in line at a local Rogers store here in Mississauga on launch day. Got the first black 16GB iPhone 3G the store sold, it had a crack from the headphone jack leading down the back of the unit about 4mm right out of the box, so they had to give me another one (thankfully I noticed it while in the store). Felt bad for the guy in line a few spots back who now missed out on his 16GB iPhone because the store had to replace mine. Both my new black model and my wife's white seem to be OK so far.

Spoke too soon. My black 16GB model has a crack between the headphone jack and the chrome bezel. :-( Almost not worth fussing over, but I will take it to the Apple store next time I'm nearby.