During our last regularly scheduled podcast, we received an dispatch from Hong Kong written by one Janric. We already knew that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 unlocked iPhones in China alone, and Janric confirmed that you can’t walk down a Hong Kong alley without tripping over somebody that has one:

I just want to comment out on the news about the 400K iPhones that are loose in china. I’m based in Hong Kong and it’s no secret that you can buy the iphone here almost anywhere. The iPhone is such a hit here that I can almost see 1 iPhone per day (excluding mine ofcourse). In my office alone, there are about 5 unlocked iPhones in use.

Don’t believe it? Check out these photos that Janric snapped in an area of Causeway Bay – just a random two block stroll:

We’ve heard firsthand reports that it’s pretty much the same situation on the opposite side of the planet (Sweden) as well. So basically it’s as easy to get an unlocked iPhone in areas Apple hasn’t made official yet as it is to get a locked-up one in the official zones. If Apple wants to get their preferred revenue sharing going in these places, they need to step up the pace of worldwide releases.

Thanks, Janric!