Russia is officially getting the iPhone on October 3rd, 2008. The country has long had a substantially large black market for the device, and Apple has even voiced its concerns about unlocked iPhones being run (in Russia) unofficially.
Towards the end of July, after Apple released the iPhone 3G here in the states, the iPhone black market heated up even more in Russia (and China). An GB iPhone 3G would’ve run you $1,200 and a 16GB around $1,370. While Apple was working on deals to bringing the device into Russia, nearly 400,000 phones were being unlocked and sold to the market.
On October 3rd, Apple is hoping most, or all of this will change. Finally bringing the phone to Russia is a big deal. At about the 4 minute mark of this video, Apple CEO Steve Jobs begins talking about Russia’s mobile market, and its importance to Apple.
Earlier this summer, Apple closed deals with three major carriers in Russia, (Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom & Megafon). Today, Reuters is reporting that all three carriers will begin selling the device at the same time.
“All retailers will begin sales of iPhone in Russia at the same time, during the night between October 2 and October 3. Our company will be also selling them,” Nadezhda Senyuk, a PR director at retail chain Tekhnosila, said by telephone.
It will sell the iPhone with 8 gigabytes of storage capacity for 22,999 roubles ($923.6) and with 16 gigabytes for 26,999 roubles ($1,084) — the same price as Russian mobile phone operators will charge for the iPhone, without a contract.
Our iPhone WorldMap is a great place to start learning about Apple’s global impact and presence with the iPhone 3G.
