Is this actually common? I'm just curious. I have three years experience out of school and assumed that consulting rates were more like $50-$100/hr
The rates those agents were talking about seem to me to be approximately what every high-end iOS dev shop charges.
Another ballpark estimator: that bill rate wasn't even in the ballpark of my (more specialized, of course) bill rate for the last two years I was consulting. It's nuts out there right now.