News of the launch of the Apple iPhone spread fast and Egyptians couldn't wait to get their hands on the latest gadget. For nearly a whole year, the iPhone never came, but that didn't stand in anyone's way. Apple was not ready to launch the iPhone in the Middle East just yet, but eager Egyptians found a way around that. Thus, the iPhone recently made its Egypt debut to a select audience who are either well-connected or have recently traveled abroad. Those lucky few were able to obtain the unlocked iPhone for $700 (about LE 4,000). Apple launched the iPhone in the United States in June and sent its first shipment to Europe just last weekend. It is yet to authorize its use in the Middle East. As soon as it hit the market, hackers unlocked it for use on third-party GSM mobile networks. "I was on a business trip in Dubai and bought the iPhone from there, Ahmed Tawfik, 29, told Daily News Egypt as he showed of his hi-tech mobile device that is a web browser, iPod and cellular phone in one. With a handy keyboard, the iPhone can be best described as a handheld PC. With a Safari web browser, the iPhone does not limit you to using mobile WAP sites. It also syncs your contacts and calendar whenever you connect iPhone to your computer. Like an iPod, it charges using the USB 2.0 cable when connected to a computer or a USB Power Adapter. "All the iPhones in Egypt are smuggled into the country, the product isn't authorized for sale by Apple yet, an executive at Trade Line, an Apple Premium Reseller in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt. According to him, the product "might officially be available in February 2008. Another reseller, who preferred to remain anonymous, confessed that iPhones were available in his store but only for "friends or trusted acquaintances. The last time he came back from Dubai, he was able to enter the country with 20 unlocked iPhones. They will probably all be sold by the time this article is published. The seller takes his trusted customers to a back room where he gives them a tour of the touch-screen features and a guide on how to use the phone. "No one wants to wait for the product to be officially [launched]. By the time it's launched in Egypt, thousands would have already purchased it abroad or from resellers, he said. If you ask for the iPhone in an Apple store, you will be told that unfortunately, it is not yet available. But if you know someone who knows someone who's connected, you may quickly become part of the very small and not so secret iPhone society in Egypt.
