Dubai: Months before the planned official launch of Apple’s iconic new iPhone 4 in the Middle East, a Dubai-based online retailer has managed to import stocks of unlocked iPhones for sale in the UAE and other Gulf countries, Gulf News has learnt.
“Alshop.com is the first retailer in the UAE to have the iPhone 4 in both 16GB and 32GB versions in stock,” Sheriff Rizwan, CEO of Alshop.com, told Gulf News.
The phones come in an unlocked version and can be used with any SIM card, Rizwan added.
He bought the devices “from different parts of the world,” said Rizwan, namely from Europe and Asia, where the unlocked version of the phone has already hit the markets.
Despite anticipating the official launch of the gadget, Rizwan says that “there are no issues with Apple. This is a free market.”
On Monday, he sold around 100 pre-booked iPhones to customers. “There is huge demand,” he added, enabling him to set the price for the 32GB version at Dh6,200 and for the 16GB at Dh5,500.
More stock is about to arrive, he said, which in return will lead to lower prices.
In the US, the AT&T-linked iPhone is sold at $299 (Dh1,097) for the 32GB version and at $199 (Dh730) for the 16GB version, respectively.
