In many, mainly small, countries around the world, people have been waiting in vain for Apple to finally start selling the iPhone. Many of the early adopters have already given up the wait and have bought an imported iPhone. They've either hacked the iPhone themselves, or bought it 'pre-hacked', so that it can be used with a sim card of their own mobile provider.
In this article we will take a look at how this has been happening in the Netherlands.
Since the American introduction of the iPhone in the summer of 2007, Dutch online chatrooms and forums about Apple and the iPhone have been filled with rumors about the Dutch introduction. Every new rumor stated that the iPhone was just weeks, or at most months away from being introduced. For almost a year now, people have been buying into these rumors and have been disappointed again and again.
Meanwhile, many people have decided not to wait, and started importing, hacking and distributing iPhones themselves. Several online cell phone stores have started selling the iPhone coupled with wireless plans. The reason this is possible is that in the Netherlands, it's not illegal to unlock cell phones. The reasoning behind that is: the customer has paid for the phone, so it is now his property and he can use it as he pleases.
The prices at which the iPhone is sold now, coupled with wireless plans, are significantly lower than the prices in countries where the iPhone has officially been introduced. At this moment, prices are below ?100 for an iPhone, with a two year wireless plan costing ?22 a month.
Due to the flourishing sales of unlocked iPhones in the Netherlands, it's probably safe to say that a big part of the iPhone's Dutch potential customer base has already bought an iPhone. This could be a reason for Apple not to hurry with the Dutch iPhone introduction. Another reason could be that, besides Mac and gadget freaks, not many people would choose the iPhone because it has a big disadvantage compared to its competitors: a very slow internet connection. Most internet enabled cell phones in the Netherlands support HSDPA or at least UMTS. The iPhone only supports GPRS and Edge. But Edge is no longer in use in the Netherlands, so, when you're not at a WiFi hotspot, the fastest internet connection you get with an iPhone is the very slow GPRS.
Still, new rumors about a pending Dutch iPhone introduction surface almost daily on the Dutch forums and chat rooms, but due to the reasons mentioned above more and more people don't believe anymore that Apple will introduce the current version of the iPhone in the Netherlands at all. They see it as more likely that Apple will wait for the 3G version of the iPhone (that supports UMTS/HDSPA) to officially start selling the iPhone in the Netherlands.
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