Unlockers Buying 10% of iPhones

With a view toward resale, hackers put footprint on market
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 4, 2007 2:57 PM CDT
Unlockers Buying 10% of iPhones
The new Apple iPhone, left, is shown in front of the new Apple iPod Touch, right, in San Francisco, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007. Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new versions of the company's market-leading iPod media player Wednesday, including an iPod Nano with a 2.5-inch screen for watching movies...   (Associated Press)

One of every 10 iPhones sold in September was bought to be unlocked and resold, an investment bank has estimated. The anecdotal research comes from several hours spent monitoring Apple stores; the analysts assumed that all iPhone purchases of the maximum five per customer were made by hackers, appleinsider.com reports. Unlockers were in particular effect in New York City locations.

Piper Jaffray also noted that the new software update, which renders most hacked devices unusable, automatically shrank the market for phones that can operate on carriers other than AT&T. In other anecdotal iPhone news, the bank said the retail phenom had seen a 56% increase in sales after its controversial $200 price cut in late September. (More iPhone stories.)

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