The Apple’s iPhone 3G one of the most popular mobile phones in the history. It 3G version broke a selling record when just in the first weekend sold near to 1 million devices and some experts are now expecting a sell of more than 6 million units at the end of the 2008. A large numbers of these units have been sold unlocked from independent retailers and merchant who use the services of popular websites such as EBay, Amazon and others. Despite the popularity of buying an unlocked iPhone 3G is increasing every year there are some risky elements we shouldn’t forget. We should be fully aware of the factors related to buying unlocked mobile phones and especially the iPhone 3G.
What is happening in the market?
There are a lot of benefits not only for Steve Jobs but for AT&T. This company has been receiving huge revenue due to its offering of the iPhone 3G. During the previous 3 months the most sold mobile phones only in the United States are the Apple iPhone 3G, the RIM Blackberry Curve, the RIM Blackberry Pearl and the Palm Centro. In the smart phone market the Apple iPhone 3G is leading with the 17% market share.
Disadvantages of purchasing an unlocked mobile phone and the special case of the iPhone 3G:
Most users of unblocked iPhone 3G aren’t aware of the risks they are taking and the disadvantages of a product in this conditions. Probably you think that you are getting a lot of benefits only if you get unlock your iPhone 3G. I know that the great positive point is that once you get your iPhone 3G unlocked you can use it with any SIM Card or even network. But the huge disadvantages of unblock an iPhone 3G or buy it unlocked is that you won’t have more access to the guarantee of this mobile device. Sometime the guarantee is an important element and more when you have invested USD300, USD4000 or more in a smart phone such as the iPhone 3G.
On the other hand, there are a ton of software that you can’t update because is required a registration in the official website of Apple. For instance the iPhone 3G come with the high quality web browser Safari. This web browser is great and you can use it perfectly in your iPhone 3G, but the inconvenience is that when you try to watch some videos through the browser you can’t do it because most of them requires the Macromedia Flash and you should download it. Without warranty you can’t do that. One of the alternatives some people are using now is installing third party software capable to unblock and eliminate these limitations that comes as a result of the unlocking process. Furthermore, sometimes the software of a specific mobile phone could require of a critical update and if you don’t access to the guarantee you can loss a lot of money with a useless mobile device.
The special case of the iPhone 3G is simply that. Whether you are investing a lot of money for this mobile phone, you probably can wait a pay more and have access to the guarantee. Sometimes is better pay something more and have all the benefits of the guarantee from the manufacturer that pay almost the same without any guarantee and getting all the aforementioned risks.
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