Louis Ashner, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had a very profitable business buying used iPhones from Americans, unlocking them and reselling them to the Chinese. However, his lucrative business named Side Street Technology Inc came to an abrupt halt early in October.
Suddenly Ashner was unable to unlock AT&T versions of the iPhone. No one in China will buy an iPhone that only works on AT&T and now he is unable to unlock the phones in bulk so they work on other networks. AT&T accounts for 48% of the iPhones in the United States and their network technology is compatible with most other networks around the world. Therefore, used AT&T iPhones are the largest part of the resale market.
“The market is gone,” said Ashner, “We are closing up.” Side Street Technology Inc was on track for $1 million in revenue for the year but now it has closed its doors and Ashner is liquidating his inventory at a loss. AT&T appears to be at the center of whatever changed, Ashner speculates of the historically monopolizing company.
The same thing is happening throughout the United States to used-smartphone business owners and none of them knows exactly what happened. Specialized services, many working out of Asia, have been able to unlock iPhones on a mass scale at a relatively modest cost but that all changed in October. AT&T has suddenly made it harder to unlock the phones from their network, people in the industry say.
“AT&T was very lax for a long time in regards to mobile phone unlocking. If they said no, a third-party unlocker would be happy to unlock any AT&T iPhone or other device for a very decent price,” said Will Strafach, who owns an unlocking company called ChronicUnlocks in Connecticut. “AT&T is really taking action and coming down hard.”
A spokesperson for AT&T said the company has not changed its policies for unlocking phones for their customers. When asked whether it had made any changes concerning bulk unlocking by third parties, the spokesperson declined to comment, as did a representative from Apple Inc.
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