Who Is Buying Those iPhones?

I have now spent overnight at two international stores for grand openings, where there were two waiting lines—those who wanted to visit the store and those wanting to buy an iPhone 4 without a contract, that is, unlocked. And who was buying those iPhones in Paris and London? I talked to many people in the iPhone line, and they were all visitors from other countries. Without being stereotypical, I think most of the others in line were from other countries, too, including many from Russia, and some from Turkey, India, and eastern Europe. The reason, of course, is that there is no way to buy an iPhone 4 in any of these countries. And the challenge after buying is to get the phone to work on the local cellular system. The micro SIM card is the first hurdle. There are small electronic shops in Paris and London that will sell you a card cutter or cut your existing card. After getting on-line, not all the features will work (visual voicemail). There are still iPhone waiting lines at both the Regent Street and Covent Garden stores in London, since stock can’t keep up with demand. That’s a pretty amazing situation for a retailer to have, and must give Apple information and where they should be selling iPhones next.