There was no actual unlocked price for the first iphone because there was no official unlocked phone, and only way to buy one was through AT&T. A $1200 on ebay is paying for the phone + hype + an unlock hack. The first unsubsidized, direct sale iPhone from Apple was the 3g, and the 8GB version was only $499.

This says it 3G was $599, which still feels cheap now. Biggest jump was went it went from 8 to X, whopping $300 jump.

https://venturebeat.com/mobile/iphone-prices-from-the-origin...