January 28, 2008, 5:13 pm Good News in the 1 Million Missing iPhonesBy
Saul HansellWall Street analysts have begun to search the globe for 1.7 million lost iPhones.
Apple said that it has sold 3.75 million iPhones through the end of last year, but AT&T has activated a bit less than 2 million phones. There was a moment of panic as investors imagined more than a million unsold iPhones piled up in the stock rooms of AT&T stores.
Upon reflection, several analysts have come to the conclusion that the vast bulk of these have been bought and unlocked to use on carriers other than AT&T in the United States and on European carriers who are Apple’s partners.
There are not, however, 1 million people who are going to steep themselves in the art of iPhone hacking. Rather, both analysts suggested that there are organized groups of gray market dealers who are buying up iPhones, unlocking them, and reselling them, largely overseas.
