Over one quarter of a million iPhones sold to unlockers, Apple guesses

Posted Oct 22nd 2007 6:14PM by Tobias Buckell
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), AT and T (T), iPhone, Technology

At today's 5:00pm conference call by Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) the computer and entertainment company announced that it estimated that 250,000 of the 1.4 million iPhones it sold since the iPhone debuted just a few short months ago were sold to unlockers.

Apple maintains a 'multi-year' contract with cellular phone carrier AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), locking customers in to the phone company if they wish to use the iPhone's full feature set. However many customers find that unsatisfying, preferring carriers that may work better in their home area, or that they already have contracts with. Many phones are also sent overseas where the iPhones may have yet to roll out.

While many suspected a large number of iPhones were sold for this purpose, finding out that roughly almost 18% of these phones are for customers who don't want to use AT&T is interesting. It might prompt Apple to stop 'bricking' it's iPhones to halt unlockers if they realize almost a fifth of their iPhone sales come from them.

Back on Oct. 4, The Unofficial Apple Weblog ran a story that estimated 10% was the number.

Tags: iphone brick, iphone unlocked, IphoneBrick, IphoneUnlocked

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-23-2007 @ 9:26AM

george scandalis said...

Your guess is of based on the mistaken belief that those phones are all in the US. A great percentage of those phones are in Asia and Europe. That bloc of iPhones only add to Apple's bottom line through the initial sale not through an AT&T revenue stream going forward.
So, that said, why you would think Apple would want to stop modifying their firmware to "help" these iPhone owners that are off-shore is beyond logic.
Perhaps you could comment on that.

10-23-2007 @ 9:52AM

Tobias Buckell said...

Read a little closer. I *do* acknowledge what you say I don't, and I quote directly from my own article, which is that "Many phones are also sent overseas where the iPhones may have yet to roll out."

However neither you nor I know the exact percentage that stays domestic or goes overseas. Judging by online forums I'd say plenty of consumers are making the point of trying to use iPhones that are unlocked here.

Whether it's 50/50, or what, I'd be curious to find out.

And yes, no matter unlocked or locked, it does add to Apple's bottom line. My point is that if Apple sold unlocked more readily without bricking them onupdates, they might increase domestic sales to people not ready to switch to AT&T and increase their bottom line.