Gray Market Archive

  • Apple doesn’t accept cash at the Apple Store, not even for an iPad

    Apple doesn’t accept cash at the Apple Store, not even for an iPad

    Posted on May 18, 2010 | No Comments
    A human interest story, brought to us by the fine people at KGO-TV in San Francisco. It goes something like this: a woman had saved up for a very long time to buy an Apple iPad. So goes into an Apple Store, tells the clerk that she'd like to buy an iPad, then whips out the requisite $600. Six-hundred in cash, mind you. Then the Apple clerk drops a bombshell: sorry, but we don't accept cash here.

    Full Story

  • Another Nintendo-ish USB controller for your perusal

    Another Nintendo-ish USB controller for your perusal

    Posted on March 4, 2010 | No Comments
    Brando presents us with the Buffalo USB Nintendo PC Game Pad. Priced at $22 plus $3 shipping, it’s a somewhat enticing purchase given the fact that it’s made by a pretty well known company as opposed to other more gray-market Nintendo USB gamepads.

    Full Story

  • Google postpones phone launch in China amid recent quarrel

    Google postpones phone launch in China amid recent quarrel

    Posted on January 19, 2010 | No Comments
    Looks like there won't be a "Google phone" in China, not for a while at least. Well, an official phone; I'm pretty sure the gray market will take care of that. And yes, it has to do with the ongoing Google-China troubles.

    Full Story

  • iPhone to be the best phone in all of China

    iPhone to be the best phone in all of China

    Posted on November 17, 2009 | No Comments
    China Unicom’s chairman believes that the iPhone will be the most popular iPhone in China, beating out Nokia and RIM for the crown of Bounteous Emperor of the Eastern Phone World. Interestingly, the iPhone will cost over $1,000 in China and there expectations that gray market sales won’t effect Unicom’s bottom line. There are currently 1 [...]

    Full Story

  • Apple sells only 5,000 official iPhones in China

    Apple sells only 5,000 official iPhones in China

    Posted on November 3, 2009 | No Comments
    Not that this should surprise anyone, but Apple has sold only 5,000 iPhones since last week when it officially launched. The phrase “officially launched” is key, since people there have been able to buy the iPhone on the gray market for some time now. And it's a superior phone on the grey market, since the official phone doesn't have Wi-Fi. That's right: a smartphone nearly in 2010 that doesn't have Wi-Fi.

    Full Story