GAZA - Apple's new iPhone 5 is selling well in the Gaza Strip despite
inflated prices, reaching the Palestinian enclave via smuggling tunnels
even before high-tech hub Israel next door.
The cutting edge
smart phone is being snapped up for almost double what it costs in the
United States, its price jacked up by middlemen on its circuitous
delivery route from Dubai via tunnels linking the blockaded territory
with Egypt.
The iPhone 5 will not be available until December
from mobile operators in tech-mad Israel, which along with Egypt
maintains a partial blockade of Gaza to prevent the entry of anything
that could be used for military purposes.
But the phones have
been available for a couple of weeks in Gaza and they were on display on
Monday in three independent mobile stores in a one-block radius in
downtown Gaza City.
Prices ranged from 4,500 Israeli shekels ($1,170) for the 16 gigabyte model to 5,700 ($1,480) for 64 gb.
"I
ordered 30 and I've sold 20 so far," said one dealer. "We can order as
many as we want. But most people are waiting for the price to go down.
They're pretty expensive."
The iPhone 5, launched last month, sells for $650 and $850 in the 16 and 64 gigabyte versions in the United States.
Apple has no store or official dealership in Gaza, whose Islamist Hamas leadership is in conflict with Israel.
Israel's Maariv newspaper
last week reported that the iPhone 5's controversial new Apple Maps
application does not list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its
built-in World Clock app shows Jerusalem as a city without an associated
country.
For the 1.6 million Palestinians living in Gaza,
transport and handling costs for all kinds of imports are inflated by
bribes paid in Egypt to facilitate the smuggling, and Hamas adds sales
tax at its end of the supply chain.
But despite the hefty mark-up and high costs in an aid-dependent territory with a crippled economy, market forces prevail.
"There are always some people prepared to pay whatever they must just to have the latest thing," a dealer said.