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Apple officially sells unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

September 26, 2008, 6:55 PM

Hong Kong gets the iPhone without the carrier obligations by which many other countries must abide.

Available officially through Apple on its Hong Kong regional site, the 3G iPhone is compatible with any carrier's SIM. However, the devices do come at a rather prohibitive price point: HK$ 5,400 ($694.75) for the 8 GB and HK$ 6,200 ($797.65) for the 16 GB.

Apple sells unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong

This price is slightly offset by the versatility it offers in terms of voice and data plans, as Hong Kong's 3G network coverage is among the most diverse in the world. The island nation has 3G and GPRS coverage from Hong Kong CSL, Hutchison (aka "3"), One-2-Free, PCCW, and SmarTone/Vodafone.

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By siryak

posted Sep 29, 2008 - 3:50 PM

Grr...Spammers are like a big steaming pile of crap right in the middle of the sidewalk of life.

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Sep 29, 2008 - 10:48 PM

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Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Sep 28, 2008 - 10:19 PM

Same available in Australia. Although here you buy the phone with a carrier then pay a 'nominal' unlocking fee. 'Nominal' seems to be a rather vague pricing term, but I know my carrier unlocks for free if you're on a contract, $80 if it was a pre-paid iPhone. That would make the 8GB 809AUD unlocked, IIRC.

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By Esquire

edited Sep 28, 2008 - 8:42 PM

The key word here is "official". It was already possible for the HK's 3G iPhone to use SIM from other carriers "unofficially" without hacking when it first went on sale on July 11 - I have personally tested it using 3HK (the official iPhone carrier when launched), CSL 1010 and Smartone-Vodafone, and only required adjustments to network settings for Internet access on the latter two.

While it may seem to be a "prohibitive" price selling the 16GB model at HK$6,200, it's about the same as HTC's latest Windows Mobile phone, and when combined with some other carrier's cheaper voice and data service plans, it can cost less than the cheapest 3HK's official offering at $8250 that includes 500MB data usage per month for a 24-month contract commitment; their unlimited data plan (with 3,700 minutes for voice per month) will set you back a whopping HK11,880 (USD 1,523 approx) with no visual voicemail support for the same contractual commitment - expensive by HK's standards.

Score: 0

By newumbrella

posted Sep 28, 2008 - 5:52 PM

Sorry just want to make some clarification here. Hong Kong is not a island nation, but rather a Special Administrative Region (SAR) governed by Mainland China.

Score: 0

By Esquire

posted Sep 28, 2008 - 8:34 PM

China has sovereignty over Hong Kong (and Macau SAR), but HKSAR has its own government, legal systems and laws - consistent to the "one country, two systems" principle.

Whether it is being "governed" by Mainland China may depend on one's interpretation ;P

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Sep 28, 2008 - 12:28 AM

Do other carriers besides AT&T in the U.S. even accept the iPhone on their data plans? I'm sure it goes without saying that anyone else wouldn't actually support it, but still...

What features exactly would a user be missing out on if they decided to use an unlocked iPhone on another carrier?

Score: 0

By JoshvanHulst

posted Sep 28, 2008 - 9:21 PM

Score: 0

By cycomiko

posted Sep 27, 2008 - 11:42 PM

iphone has been already unlocked officially in greece since aug 22 when it first arrived.

Score: 0

By tarsam

edited Sep 27, 2008 - 9:33 PM

Why is that ? Apple plans to sell iPhones officially unlocked so it can be shipped back to the US and other parts of the world and at the same time apple makes more profit this way by selling at HK$ 6,200 for 16GB almost US$794

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