Disclaimer: I am not employed by State Farm, or any parent company thereof.
What most people don't realize about property insurance is that regulations vary from state to state, in addition to loss patterns. A nationwide insurer may operate as a whole but will generally adjust their coverages by market segment. Additionally, local agents have incentive to sell coverage to their customers, but the corporate underwriters and actuaries ultimately decide what is considered an acceptable insurable risk.
As a result, you'll find varying degrees of willingness to endorse iPhone coverage depending on your local agent and where you live--even within a single nationwide insurer such as State Farm. I'm sure some agents are eager to provide coverage in the form of a personal electronics/articles rider in addition to an existing homeowners' policy, or even as a stand-alone policy. Some agents would probably not agree to sell such coverage because they may be suspicious of individuals wanting to insure a single, low-value object with a somewhat high risk of loss.
What I can definitely say is that there is no specific prior data to create a loss model for the iPhone. The best an insurer can do is collect data for other similar devices, and base their premium off of that. For this reason, I would not expect most large insurers to write stand-alone policies for such a device. They may be willing to take an increase in premium on an existing book of business even with poorly established loss experience. Many factors play into the underwriting decision.
Bottom line--the agent might be the face of the company to you, but they don't always march in lock-step with corporate interests. Second, by refusing to write or endorse coverage for a $500-600 mobile electronic device (a small amount relative to other personal items like jewelry, fine art, TVs, computers), the insurer isn't necessarily trying to screw you over. Don't whine and say it isn't fair. They generally want to sell you that coverage, especially if it gives them a competitive edge or first entry into a new market. But they won't do it if they can't reasonably price it.
