Have you seen all the news hype about the missing iPhones? Apple claims they sold something like 4 million iPhones to date, but AT&T say only a little over 2 million have been activated. The question is what happened to the rest. Some website claimed the rest have been unlocked and running on other networks. Even some stock analysts are saying this and noting that it will be bad for Apple because they will lose the monthly revenue from the AT&T customers. The sudden drop in the Apple stock is also attributed to this.
I just have to laugh. To unlock the iPhone you would have to break it open, mess with the electronics, void your warrenty, and hope it works. I doubt millions of people have done this. My guess is that the Apple numbers and AT&T numbers were released at different times and that is why they don't jive.
One other guess was that the some Apple fanatics just bought them to keep as collectors items. McFan are you one of these people? It is amazing what conclusions people will jump to, no matter how far out there is is.
4 comments:
There is just no way I would ever buy an Apple product as a collector's item. I feel that Apple products are meant to enhance and fundamentally change the way we do things in our lives. (It's getting a little deep in the blog, but a lot of Mac fanatics would agree!) I admit I am NOT the person who will fork out $400 and then screw around with the guts of the machine. I completely agree that there cannot be 2 million people out there who would do that, and certainly not that many collectors! However, AFTER the product has had a long and useful life, then I keep them as relics of my life here on Earth. (I know, it's getting deep in here again!)
Lo, your whole way of talking about Apple products puts you in the 'deep!'
I, too, think it's ridiculous to think that 2 million people bought an iPhone and unlocked it. The possibilities you brought up are good ones, I think, Stitch. Another possibility is that a good chunk of the the difference can be attributed to the difference between shipped iPhones and activated iPhones. Apple may have sold numerous iPhones to retailers, and they are in inventory - Amazon, AT&T, Best Buy, Circuit City are all possible non-Apple store retailers with inventory on hand. This would only be true, though, if Apple didn't do some kind of consignment deal with other retailers, but I find that very unlikely.
-Le
Excellent points, Le. By the way, I am proud to be "waste deep"!
Ahhh to be waste deep in iPhones.
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