We know what happened to all of the missing iPhones

Cleve Nettles
|
January 28, 2008
|
Share

They were hacked.  There are a lot of people who use phones outside of AT&T, and the European carriers.  But, are 1/3 of Apple's iPhones hacked?  Probably.

For the people who say that they are in the "channel", we have to wonder what they are referring to.  RoughlyDrafted points this out as well.    iPhones are only sold by Apple's online store and retail and its telecom partners.  Not by Best Buy or Target or Circuit City.  Apple knows exactly what's in its inventory.  It also knows what AT&T and the EU's got on their shelves.

Frankly, we think Apple wants us to say it.  Yes, "one-third of iPhones are now hacked to work on non-sanctioned providers".  Apple had to make this deal with the mobile carriers to let them use their networks for a reasonable fee.  Apple agreed to lock the iPhone down enough so that people would be coerced into using the providers.  But Apple wants this phone in as many hands as possible.  The ten million mark is something they'd like to make come hell or high water.  They probably weren't anticipating a recession to be thrown into the mix either.

So there are over 2 billion people in China and India.  Is it impossible to believe that 200,000 of them (1/10,000th)  snapped up iPhones?  Now add in a bunch of Canadians, Mexicans, Indonesians Australians and Europeans.  It isn't hard to find hacked iPhones.  Just look at our Google ads!  It also isn't illegal.

Is it really so hard to believe?

18 84 58 A6 D1 50 34 DF E3 86 F2 3B 61 D4 37 74

Comments (34)

Noah Webster (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 4:20am

I'm glad someone finally pointed this out. I invite anyone to go to NY and look in all of the electronic boutiques-their windows are filled with unlocked iphones for sale. In Paris, unlocked iphones are more common than those purchased from orange. Its probably the same around the world.

Additionally, Apple has to know the exact amount going out due to their profit-sharing relationship with ATT.

AkitaOnRails (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 5:49am

Only I alone hold half a dozen unlocked iPhones. I am from Brazil, and I've seen many floating around. We also have dozens of small websites doing unlocking services and such.

bd-in-pdx (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 6:49am

That's just good business if you ask me (and you did!). If there's international demand that business partners just can't meet, so be it, the free market has easily done it themselves, more power to 'em!

And since I just had my iPhone replaced with a new one (locked down, obviously) I can tell from personal experience an unlocked iPhone is 10x more useful and 20x more fun than the official version. Webapps suck, especially when my signal is gone.

Anonymous (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 7:01am

Well Im an Indian and I myself own 2 iphones! ;-D

MrBlonde (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 7:06am

I don't like how 'bunch' sounds, but anyway... I know several fellow Spaniards who own an iPhone, so I guess the number of Europeans with an iPhone is quite high.

Anon (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 8:27am

That still explains the stock drop though. If that's the case the investors are cheesed that Apple won't be getting the revenue sharing form the service providers on the hacked phones.

Rogue Canadian (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 8:47am

Lots of unlocked iPhones in Canada (on Rogers). Unfortunately Rogers, the sole-GSM provider, doesn't realize that a revenue-share deal with Apple and the market leadership associated with the iPhone is better than what they are getting now - 0% of $0.

Kev Orng (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 7:09pm

I'm sure Rogers would like nothing more than to get the iPhone officially moving in Canada. They may embody the very essence of the slow-turning corporate ocean liner, but they aren't stupid. I think there are other factors delaying it. Not the least of which is that Comwave ( comwave.ca ) claims the Canadian trademark for the name iPhone since 2004, and have lately stepped up the marketing for their iPhone service in the past six months, presumably to strengthen their claim to it. I have receieved one of their flyers every two months or so since late summer. Thus far they have refused Apple's suggestion to "share" the mark in Canada on the grounds that Apple will muscle them out.
 

On top of that, Rogers has been rolling out 3G, so theirs always the chance they might be waiting for that.

doggy (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 9:13am

Hey, every housewife in Moscow has an iPhone now - they're very much in favor, they're like 500$ for fresh in packed in the box and 2-3 hundreds more for unlocked ones.

Chelle (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 12:15pm

Paying for an UnLocked iPhone! NO WAY! We bought ours from Apple.com and unlocked them ourselves for FREE..

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 9:30am

Lots of unlocked iPhones in China too. I bought mine in Beijing where there were many for sale unlocked and locally customised. Hong Kong is a different matter – it's full of them!<P>

I wouldn't have bought one if I wasn't able to:<P>

a) unlock it and use local and international SIMs (China Mobile, HKCSL, Virgin, etc)<BR>
b) jailbreak it and use the many useful 3rd party apps<P>

Locked iPhone on official service provider? Mehhhhhh.

 

Sebhelyesfarku (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 9:54am

The missing iPhones are in Jobs' ass together with the heads of dumbass Maczealots.

Azazello (not verified) | February 04, 2008 - 9:17am

Please do not mind 'Sebhelyesfarku' (aka Scabs-on-his-Dick), I Googled him -- he is just another kakistocratic, coprolalic wanderer of cyberspace, still lives in a tiny room of his mother's dank apartment in Budapest. (see Tarr Béla: Öszi Almanach - The Almanac of Fall)

Cabral (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 10:13am

I unlocked 20 iphones (1.1.1 fw) in one Saturday for sale in West Africa, where they are the thing to be seen with. Costs $800 unlocked in Senegal, $1000 in Guinea Bissau.
So there is a channel alright

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 10:28am

"Just look at our Google ads! "

Oops! I think you just violated your Google Adsense agreement!

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 10:30am

HA, what a joke! The above article is BS, nothing more to it, plain and simple bull crap. There is absolutely NO WAY that 1/3 of iPhones have been unlocked. Estimates say that Apple makes an $80 profit per iPhone sold ($400 revenues - $320 production costs) and $10 per month from AT&T per iPhone subscriber (thats $240 per iphone sold over two year contract). That comes out to Apple making a profit of $320 per iPhone sold. My point is that there is no way Apple will allow users to not pay the $240 owed to them (which is 75% of their profit). If 1/3 of the 4M iPhones we unlocked, that is a total of $320,000,000 of lost revenue.

 

By the way, what do you think of my suit?

admin | January 28, 2008 - 11:44am

Um, yeah 20 commenters and 1.3 million hacked iPhone users would probably disagree with your statement.

 

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 10:53am

Hey whats the deal with: 18 84 58 A6 D1 50 34 DF E3 86 F2 3B 61 D4 37 74

rojelio (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 10:56am

I just got back from Mumbai, India. All iPhones there are unlocked (they're not exported to India at this time), and there are a LOT of people there who either have or want iPhones.

Anon non-fanatic (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 11:04am

If 1/3 of the 4M iPhones we unlocked, that is a total of $320,000,000 of lost revenue.

Think buzz creation & marketing. How much does that usually cost ? So I`d tend to go with the unlocked over there scenario(s). Every place I read about this that allows comments has the same thread of responses claiming non "official" phones in some country. Trolls ? I think not.

This gadget is too useful to not be spread by all means available. Unlocked it most likely is the state of all these "missing" phones.

diOxide (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 11:20am

I live in Sweden. Neither me or any of my friends are tech freaks nor Apple fans, and still the iPhone is the most common phone used within my circle of friends. Even Apple as a brand is the most common. 7 Apple, 6 Nokias (different models) 5 SEs and 2 Motos..  They have a great product, that's all it takes.

Qwinn (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 11:27am

A lot of these "missing" iPhones are simply not yet activated. Hundreds of thousand of iPhones were given as Christmas gifts, and the recipients had not activated their phone by the end of the year. Now I Know lots of iPhones are being sold and unlock, but a good percentage of these "missing" iPhones simply are yet active on AT&T due to folk's current carrier contract issues, or number portability, or simply people traveling and being away from their computers (and iTunes).

Chelle (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 12:13pm

Me, my husband and 3 other friends hold UnLocked iPhones! :) Simple and free process and so much nicer to keep my carrier (T-Mobile)

down under (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 2:41pm

Plenty of unlocked iPhones here in Australia. Aussies are waiting for a 3G version, so we're probably underrepresented, but there must be thousands of iPhones here already.

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 5:53pm

It's on "sale" for more than A$1,050 in a Chinese mobile phone shop here in Australia. They're everywhere.

Anonymous kawrebce (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 6:33pm

512,000 - 1.

Here is one Canadian who owns one of those missing 512,000 iphones. Now, just 511,999 left to account for !!!

Kev Orng (not verified) | January 28, 2008 - 7:15pm

I think I saw you at the gym a month or so back! Unless somebody else in Canada has one too...

Not so special now, are ya!  :D

 

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | January 29, 2008 - 12:32am

As a previous commenter said, Hong Kong is absolutely full of them - usual rate unlocked is US$500 to US$600 dependent on supply which now seems pretty good. I have one and am just waiting to see whether the SDK apps will be possible to install on the hacked versions. The 3G version will be massive here too if it can be unlocked.

If Apple are still making a profit without the AT&T revenue, why would they block the sales when a large percentage of the units are going to countries that can't buy the phone legally (like all of Asia and a lot of Europe). In addition, they don't have any iPhone support, repair or marketing costs in these countries yet still benefit from the brand 'halo' effect on the Mac line.

Long may this continue!

viennese | January 29, 2008 - 3:02am

I live in Vienna , Austria and I got already in November an iPhone 1.1.1 and unlocked myself. I would have bought one locked through my carrier (T-Mobile) if was sold here in Austria but until now there is no sign when it will land in Austria. I really fail to understand why Apple is dragging their feet to have the iPhone marketed in the rest of Europe and even in the rest of world; there would be many who would buy it officially and more important Apple will not loose a lot of revenues. But who is listening??

Anonymous Investor (not verified) | January 29, 2008 - 8:12pm

If the first geneation phone get this much attention worldwide without being deployed worldwide, god help us all when the second generation(3G, cheaper, more features) comes out.  This is just a start folks. Come back in a year...you will be lot richer that's for sure.