“Smuggling iPhones has become a lucrative, if legally questionable, way for traveling students and flight attendants to earn a bit of extra cash. An iPhone costs $499 plus tax in the U.S. — call it $550. Unlock it, for $50 or less, and you can sell the same phone for the equivalent of $900 or so in Europe,” Robert Cyran and Dwight Cass report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Perhaps it’s no coincidence that iPhones, perennially sold out at Apple’s Manhattan stores, are in stock in Buffalo. Manhattan is full of tourists armed with strong euros, rubles and Brazilian reais. Few of them visit cities in upstate New York,” Cyran and Cass report.
“This explanation, while speculative, has big implications for Apple and AT&T. Of course, there could be others explanations. Apple, which declined to comment, could be clearing the decks for a new version of the iPhone. Or it could have simply misjudged demand or run into parts shortages. Listen to the Babel of languages in Apple’s New York City stores, though, and it’s easy to imagine the missing phones in suitcases flying overseas,” Cyran and Cass report.
Full article (subscription required) here.
Why spend that much on an iPhone from the States when T-Mobile Germany is about to put the 8 GB model on sale for $122 USD on April 7th? Buy it there and bring it back to Manhattan for sale outside an Apple Store.
Now THAT sounds like a way to make some cash!
Bring on 3G and the SDK and let my AAPL go to $500.00 !!!
Thanks Steve !!!
That T-mobile sale price includes a German service contract. Add two years of service in and the price doesn’t seem so good compared to an unlocked American phone when your reselling in one of the 200+ countries on this planet where you can’t officially buy an iPhone.
I just always found it strange that the Iphone is a GSM phone but can’t be used anywhere else in the world. Any GSM phone you can pop in a SIM card and use it anywhere. Who cares if someone buys 50 iphone Apple Wins. Any company who does work with Apple will know that they will eventually lose.
I’ve seen iPhones on display in at least one retail cell phone outlet in Montréal, Québec. Insofar as the thing isn’t yet officially available in Canada … well, what more is there to say?
@dizil
I read your post 3 times, and I have one thing to ask you. WTF are you talking about?
What in the world is “legally questionable?” Buy something, take it somewhere where people want it, and sell it for more. Get rewarded for initiative and risk. Declare the income on your taxes. “Legally questionable”? Bite me.
dizil: I just always found it strange that the Iphone is a GSM phone but can’t be used anywhere else in the world. Any GSM phone you can pop in a SIM card and use it anywhere.
Of course you can use it anywhere – you “just” have to go through the outrageously expensive roaming scheme of your home provider. Not ideal by any means, but not a technical problem.
dizil: Who cares if someone buys 50 iphone Apple Wins. Any company who does work with Apple will know that they will eventually lose.
Doesn’t look like it, actually, though some of Apple’s partners seem oblivious to the chances they’re holding in their hands.
Sounds like capitalism to me! It is not an illegal or contraband substance.
I live in the Netherlands and I know about 10 people with an iPhone. Going to the Web 2.0 Expo in San Fran in 3 weeks and I’m gonna take one or two with me. YES, a lot of iPhone purchased in the US make their way out.
counter-revolution, counter-revolution, we’re the volunteers of America, counter-revolution.
@Keith Moon,
You had better be using those AAPL shares to buy a shitload of booze and pills. You gotta live up to your rep.
@ Sheep Register and MikeH:
If, by purchasing an iPhone, you are also obliged to enter into a contract with a carrier and you fail to do so, you are breaking the law. There’s nothing legally questionable about it. It’s illegal.
@Jay-Z…
But you’re not legally required to enter into a contract with AT&T;when you purchase an iphone in the USA. So it’s not illegal to purchase an iPhone, take it overseas, and sell it there.
@dizil
I just came back from a 9 day tour in Sicily and used my iPhone everyday via Vodaphone which offers great reception in the areas that I visited. The AT&T;rates were great @ 95 cents per minute and an extra $25 for 25 mb of data roaming. I checked my email several times a day as well aa stocks and several internet sites.
What are you talking about?
Dizel = “Ignoranus” – someone who has the dubious distinction of being an idiot and an a-hole at the same time.
“”Smuggling iPhones has become a lucrative,…”
There’s something fishy about this article.
The most obvious thing to me is that there is nothing illegal about crossing borders with a cell phone. Thus, traveling with cell phones, for resale or not, is not “smuggling”.
Because of the misleading opening paragraph, I declined the forced subscription to read the rest of the article.
LOL… 900 dollars??
It’s near cheaper for an European to fly to America and get one there for 399 dollar (270 euro)… So why spend 900 dollar??
I have iPhones stashed all over the world in safety deposit boxes, along with $10,000 cash, several passports, and a 9mm semi-auto.
You just never know, ya know?
“there is nothing illegal about crossing borders with a cell phone.”
isn’t that covered by the patriot act?
I’m responsible for at least 6 iPhones in Hungary (8 if you count the two that I asked my parents to bring). I’m heading back tomorrow with two more. I’m not making any money. I’m just buying them for friends who really want iPhones but can’t get one because T-Mobile Hungary has not yet introduced them. In the past month I’ve seen more iPhones than ever in Budapest.
Everytime I send someone for training to the U.S. (about 30 persons each quarter) they always come back with iPhones and iPods for their families, friends and co-workers. No financial gain, just a way to get what everyone wants at a fair price.
People used to pay for trips selling “extra” paris of blue jeans.It’s the same thing here.
It ain’t smuggling, it’s capitalism.
@theloniousMac –
“I have iPhones stashed all over the world in safety deposit boxes, along with $10,000 cash, several passports, and a 9mm semi-auto.”
Good one. I think that’s in the next Borne movie. Jason will be giving out a couple of iPhones to locals in every country he visits.
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“People used to pay for trips selling “extra” paris of blue jeans.It’s the same thing here.
It ain’t smuggling, it’s capitalism.”
A trip to the USSR in the late 70’s we traded a pair of Levi’s and a Jean jacket for a car! Used the car for the 3 weeks there then sold it for $50USD- heck of a deal.