250K iPhones sold to unlockers
October 23rd 2007
Apple has put a number on the number of people it believes purchased iPhones with the intention of unlocking the hot-selling handset--about one-in-five (18 percent). Previously, Gene Munster estimated that 10 percent of iPhones sold, a number widely ridiculed as high, were purchased by unlockers.
"Our current guess is that 250,000 of the 1.4 million that were sold to where had bought them by people with the intention of [unlocking]," said Apple COO Tim Cook. "Many of those happened after the price cut."
That means that roughly one-in-five iPhones were purchased by people, often "entrepreneurs" who resell unlocked handsets on a cost-plus basis, with the intent of adding applications and / or using the device on a network other than AT&T.
If one assumes that hackers charge a $50 markup per unlocked phone, then the after-market for iPhones amounts to $12.5 million before any reckoning of third-party apps, etc is considered. That's money that Apple's leaving on the table.
Also, with one-in-five end-users potentially in violation of the iPhone's warranty terms, Apple's facing a huge problem vis-a-vis product expectations and customer satisfaction.
This is the back story that Steve didn't mention when he announced that Apple would release an iPhone SDK in February.
Clearly, something had to be done...
What's your take?
