Man,
waiting in line for the
iPhone 3G can be a royal pain, right? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just circumvent the whole boring, sheep-like process and have one delivered to your doorstep? Well thanks to Alibaba.com and the weird and wacky copyright laws of Hong Kong, now you can! According to the wholesale goods supply site, you can just order up the "original" Apple device direct from a company called Union Camera and have them sent to whatever poorly lit dock, abandoned warehouse, or suburban safe-house you desire. The best part? They're network unlocked. You know, something seems wrong about this, but we just can't put our finger on it...
Update: As some commenters point out, it seems to be $1000 minimum order as opposed to 1000 pieces. Guess we'll just have to start the process and find out.
[Via
PMP Today]
posted Jul 17th 2008 8:32AM
I had my credit card out, ready to order it but then noticed that the minimum quantity was 1000.
I only need 850 of them. I'll keep looking.
...Now to find 999 people who want to in on an order with me
Hey wait it says 1000USD, not 1000 unit minimum order.... I'm embarrassed.....
And also I wouldn't trust buying from this website... forget it being a shady Chinese website dealer, that silver thing next to the word "Offline" indicates that this website'll give you crabs, I think.... either that or it's a dolphin with an erection, which I'm also not okay with.
$1000? I'm getting pants-shitting drunk tonight!!!
The minimum order of 1000 units sounds like a catch to me.
isn't it USD$1,000 minimum per order - ie 4 iphones?? Rather than 1000 units?
yeah, that's how i'm reading this...
i would like to order
Minimum order of 1000 phones, or USD1000?
It says USD1,000, not 1000 units.
Actually, I would say that something seems RIGHT about this. I think something seems WRONG with the way Apple and ATT did it.
It's a scam. Don't fall for these BS Chinese suppliers.
But they have such dreamy eyes!
They done this before. You will end up with a cnect P68 or a T32 clone. Have any of you looked on eBay lately? All am saying is look out...if it sounds to good to be true. Most likely it isn't true.
You know that Apple will start selling the iphones unlock later this year. I believe it's end of Q3. Just FYI.
seems legitimate. it even features a "Nikon Digital camera & Lens". I'll ask how much they want for it.
It says USD 1,000 not 1000 Un . . . Oh, Snap! Three other guys beat me to it!
At least you realized before engadget, give yourself a pat on the back.
How about we take some of those, and give them to ATT for the people that waited in line, and had to order a phone and were told 5 days. 5 days has come and gone.
(Apologies if a double post)
How about we don't?
How about we just all laugh at the people who were stupid enough to wait in line for A PHONE!
[insert laugh audio track here of your choice]
I can see why the world rushes to do business in such a fine, upstanding, pro-business area.
That's what Bruce Wayne would do.
you want buy copy phone?
It's probably not a copy.
http://www.allroadsleadtochina.com/Pictures/362225946_2a96460d3c.jpg
Good catch! Shenzhen, PRC is just a short drive from Hong Kong, where the selling company is located.
Do they take PayPal? I've ordered stuff from shady people in Hong Kong before and they take PayPal....but I always get the item. True, it isn't for $1000.
Wow, Nikon Digital camera & Lens and Nano? I'm sold.
Worst part about this is that some poor bugger will read this and actually buy the stupid things because it is on engadget.com therefore it is clearly legit!
I call BS. Everyone familiar with chinese suppliers knows that they are listing prices in euros. Since it appears to be stable currency as opposed to the constantly declining dollar. At first I thought it was a joke when my supplier wanted to be paid in euros (this was in 2005), but if you were these guys would you rather take 1000€ or $1000s that might lose a point or 2 by the time the transaction completes.
Probably 1000 euros since they're worth over 50% more? Or was this a trick question?
People seem to forget that China can make the best knock off's on the planet, if anyones got $1000 to spare let us know how that turns out yeah?
Our iphones in Belgium are all unlocked ones, because it's forbidden to sell locked ones here.... :D
First, the waffles and now this! What DON'T you people have?
Texas, they dont have Texas....yet.....
But they did invent frites. And soon, a Bud to down it with.
They're actually unlocked to use with the three operators in Belgium: Proximus, Mobistar and Base. These units will not work with other networks.
Do you know if you need to buy them with a contract? And if they sell you more than one?
Eduardo
umm IT IS REAL GUYS
and its not Euro's Alibaba is rarely in euro it's mostly USD as they cater to US buyers......
also the seller of these is
Is a Gold Memeber and has a Verified Profile meaning they are legit and alibaba last i checked has some pretty strict verifications
Thanks Chris, I was getting seriously pi**ed off at the people making degoratory comments about this supplier.
1. How is it "8GB" -and- "16GB" ? It can't be both.
2. How many units for USD1000 ? 1? 2? 10?
8 + 16 = 24
I don't see a problem with this.
iPhone in Hong Kong is not locked
(Thanks to the fierce market competition, 6 GSM Networks + 4 WCDMA networks in a city with a 7 million population)
iPhone Monthly Plan starts with US$25 with 500mb data and unlimited intra-network SMS
Highest Plan is US$62 with unlimited data and 2200 anytime minutes
If iPhones in Hong Kong is cheaper than anywhere around the world, surely there would be such a market.
One more thing,
iPhone 16GB is just US$18 after rebate if the customer use the unlimited plan.
The Details (English)
http://iphone.three.com.hk/website/en/iplan.html
yes, however you must prepay a whole 12-month of service fees which is approximately $700usd upon picking up the iphone 3G. HK businessmen know how to create illusion when it comes to emptying your pocket.
$700 USD prepaid for a whole year of service and iphone sounds pretty good if you ask me...
$200 + 12*$70 = $1040 on ATT
Wish i lived in Belgium, question would an unlocked iPhone 3G(assuming the software ever comes out) from the US work on the 3G networks in Europe?
I find it odd that it says " We ship out the goods on the same day after payment confirmed" then under Features Specifications it says "iPhone 3G ORIGINAL from Apple coming soon".
Coming soon? Yeah right...
Chinese is a term affectionately used for people born and bred in China. You don't call someone from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore a Chinese. It might come across as offensive or derogatory.
Anyway, the company in the spotlight is from Hong Kong.
what? i was born in taiwan, making me 100% chinese. don't confuse nationality and race - the only taiwanese that get offended when you call them chinese are the ones who were born overseas
If anyone's going to be offended by anything, it's probably the fact that you're calling these Chinese people "bred".
Way to make them sound like dogs, man.
Usually people are "bred" by their parents, but perhaps the communists are doing something different these days in which case "bred" may be derogatory. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the term "born and bred" isn't derogatory and someone is just a little too sensitive.
@ jaalin
Speak for yourself.
Some of us actually understand the world beyond how the government used to educate us 20 years ago.
"Chinese is a term affectionately used for people born and bred in China. You don't call someone from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore a Chinese. It might come across as offensive or derogatory." => I think you mean to say “MAINLAND-Chinese”. The phrase stereotypically refers to the GENERALLY lower educated Chinese in Mainland China. Notoriously known for talking loudly, spit, cheat, steal, mistresses, married to Caucasian husband for citizenship later to cheat away all the money, etc. When mistakenly identified as “Mainland-Chinese”, it is not too hard to understand why some Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore may find it offensive.
Having said that… Chinese, also know as Han-Chinese, refers to an ethnic group native to China. Therefore Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore are 100% Chinese.
By the way, Caucasians are generally referred to as “Gwai-Low”. “Gwai” because of the blond hair, heavy beard and green eyes. Sounds very much like Rakshasa in Buddhist mythology.
Off to america on holiday this year. Would it be possible/plausible to bring back a 3g iphone cheaply, and use it in the UK with all its gps and stuff?
Im asking here cos your all nerds that know what your talking about, ta ;)
Will
Depends on when you're going on holiday for starters... AT&T and Apple are all but sold out here in the US.
My dad's on tenterhooks as I think he wants me to send one back to the UK for him.
nope
Euro/Asia commonly uses , in place of . in numerations. 1,000 probably simply means 1.000 in US terms.
Chinese is a term affectionately used for people born and bred in
China. You don't call someone from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore a
Chinese. It might come across as offensive or derogatory.
Anyway, the company in the spotlight is from Hong Kong not China.
THAT's the point.
Last I checked, Hong Kong is in China, therefore I'd refer to someone from Hong Kong as Chinese (or "a Chinese"). You're a bright one, aren't you?
congrats on the double post
damn double post!
It's a SCAM. I contacted them just two days ago, apparently they used the campaign to draw attention, promote their company. here's what i got in the reply:
Dear Manager,
Thank you for your email. I am Richard from Union Camera Ltd.
Currently, we do not offer the mentioned items. However, we have many more products to offer including cameras, lenses, game consoles and their accessories. Kindly let me know if you are interested any of them so I can provide the products quotations for your reference.
Would you please also let us know details about your company such as the the major products, sales volume, scale, etc so we can optimize the quotation for you?
Looking forward to hear you soon.
Best Regards,
Alibaba has alot of scams similar to say ebay
http://www.complaintsboard.com/bysubcategory/alibaba-scams.html
you have to be careful.
For all we know they could just send you empty boxes or nothing at all.
PMPtoday has another article stating that Emgeton is selling a Meizu M8 clones. When in fact they just rebrands Meizu products. So they have early Meizu M8 photo on their site with Emgeton rebranding on it. And some scammer is trying to sell the Emgeton M8 phone when it's not even out. Since Emgeton will rebrand after the Meizu m8 is out.
Globalization at its finest!
You can get legit unlocked 8GB 3G iPhones for $790USD from Optus here in Australia...
Yes, but you still have to pay on top of that the $80 unlocking fee plus the $80 of call credits, but if you keep it on Optus for a little while, the cost of unlocking goes down.
I'm signed up, just waiting for a response from the GOLD VERIFIED seller.
Papa-san told me a great deal comes every 90 days if you have money saved.
And when I sell all 5 of these iphones on ebay for $1000 each, it will be a good day.
unless they don't ACTUALLY have these items.
Why risk such a deal. Those phones could be phones that didn't pass the quality control for some reason. For instance you could let one from belgium fly over, contractless and unlocked...
8gb: 525€ -> 830$
16gb: 615€ -> 970$
If you're interested I can hook you up playa.
I read in the local news that some guy got his for 799 or 699, 16gb model, jailbroken, different carrier, the works.
So basically, this is a ripoff.
not enough profit for me, I got four Xbox360's on launch day and sold them for average $1000
i didn't buy my own 360 for $400 until 7 months later, i dont even want the iphone i just want a profit
hey guys check this out
http://www.alibaba.com/member_site.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unioncameraltd.com&inquireurl=http%3A%2F%2Fus.my.alibaba.com%2Fmcweb%2Fcontact.htm%3Faction%3Dmcweb%3Acontact_action%26domain%3D2%26id%3D200010244&enmemberid=8pctgRBMALN%2Fgv8wnwzI7WdpIqHGynLG&companyid=200010244&baseurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alibaba.com
Well, apparently, we got original iphones imported in Pakistan from China for relatively cheap prices. As it turned out, all 2000+ iphones that were imported had the SAME IMEI number. The guys from apple requested PTA (Telco regulation authority of Pakistan) to block that one IMEI and all 2000+ iphones were blocked instantly. This can turn out to be something like that even if these phones are original.
Imported from China which imported it from America which imported it from China... gosh.
wait till i unlock it.
You could just change the IMEI numbers using one of the many hack tools.
This may be illegal in your country...
Why dont people just order an iPhone in, instead of waiting in all these ridiculous lines?
1. Call your local ATT store
2. Order iPhone of choice
3. Wait 5-10 days for shipping
4. Go pickup you new iPhone
5. Happy Happy fun time!
not unlocked.
HONG KONG IS PART OF CHINA. Since 1997 actually.
The price changed to 553.00 USD when I checked the site...
Just got this response:
The hottest selling cell phone
Apple iPhone 16 GB
3G iPhone 8G, 3G iPhone 16 GB will be launched soon
In the box
iPhone
Stereo Headset
Dock
Dock Connector to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
Cleaning/polishing cloth
Capacity
16GB flash drive
Display
3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display
480-by-320-pixel resolution at 160 dpi
Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Operating system
OS X
GSM
Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wireless data
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
EDGE
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Camera
2.0 megapixels
Audio
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20, 000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
Please visit our only company www dot oemelectrom dot com
Our company make cooperation with APPLE COMPANY, We offer the latest styles for China mainland market.
We promise the original quality and authorization operation. As well, our company have 4 years experience in the business of electron. We will offer you with professional delivery and after sales service.
Attention: don't trust anyone else once you get them from other place instead of oemelecron. Or our company wont be responsible for any fraud
our company can offer the Apple iPhone 16 GB.the price is $450-700pec.including shipping fee.the more you order,the price will lower!
i can make sure All products are AAA +++ quality ,all price including shipping fee.
i can promise that price is best for you can get from other supplier.
if you are interest in our product,pls feel free to contact me
Trade manager: cn200059257
MSN: nike8888c@hotmail.com
Yahoo ID/E-mail: nike8888c@yahoo.com.cn
Sell manager Angela
Company:Chengdou huaxia kaiyue Trade Co., Ltd
"the more you order,the price will lower"
I emailed Angela back saying
"dont be a bitch, send it to me quick"
Seems they forgot to mention it's got 3G and GPS capabilities as well under the feature list.... I smell iPhone sold as iPhone 3G.
Ok... they "claim" on their site they're from Hong Kong (a place at least trustable)
and at the end of that message they said they're from Chengdou (成都) in China. and the contact details are something like nike8888-----, ok, Angela loves nike? I always thought sport stuff are loved by mostly guys.
I guess that's why people all over are waiting on line to get iPhone 3Gs. Some Chinese Mafia organization got tens of thousands sitting in a darkened warehouse somewhere.
They also have 2 for 1 6pm-9pm.
:D
IFX?
I'm from Hong Kong and call myself chinese, what else should it be? Hongkongnese? I think it is offensive of you spreading myths about how we chinese like to be called.
Sure in mandain I will call myself xianggangren (which means Hong Kong people), but that is to tell where in the chinese area I am from.
- Hong kong-yan
it clearly says "Apple iPhone 16 GB"
3G iPhone 8G, 3G iPhone 16 GB will be launched soon
they r selling the old iphones!
Good catch. Looks like they are tricking people into thinking that this is for the 3G, when in fact that e-mail reply says it's for the old iPhone.
I'd rather order 500 metric tons of rice
http://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/101230946/Best_Deal__White_Rice_Cheap_Price_Only_730_Validity_July_10_08.html
that shit is like gold, man.
I buy from Chinese suppliers every day, I have never heard of any "Euro Only Policy" with any trade agreement I have created. On top of that, the website clearly lists USD1000 as the price, which pretty much clears up the confusion on what the trade currency will be.
On top of this, we are talking about Hong Kong, which isn't a traditional Chinese supplier, but in fact, one of the best trade cities in the world. People don't worry about currency fluctuation for a one time buy, the only time a strong currency is needed (US is still considered very strong throughout the world) is when an agreement goes over a year or so.
Sorry to rant, but it really erks me when people spread misconceptions about Chinese business practices. Joe, I gotta feeling that you are the inspiration for the UPS commercial where the guy can't find China on the map.
Caveat emptor
I don't think that's real...
Since Hong Kong only have 1500 iPhone 3G, it's not possible they have that much quantity.
BTW: although they are network unlocked, but the contract virturally "locked" the phone.
Ok guys, I live in Hong Kong..
And you can easily get an unlocked iPhone/iPhone 3G here. No big deal.
Go to a district called Mongkok - and you'll see every shop in this mall selling an unlocked iPhones.
The funny thing is, the 3 (the iPhone carrier here) shop is right across the road from this mall :) and this 3 Shop even has the usual "The iPhone you're been waiting for" banner hanging over the street. Seriously.
lol... I can just do it from home in a few days when the pwnage tool 2.0 comes out.
Why doesn't a reader from Hong Kong go by and check this place out, see if they are legitimate and see if they actually have the 3G iPhones in their warehouse?