Increasing iPhone "Liquidity"
The other day I was wondering why Apple would release an unlocked iPhone in the U.S. this late in the life of the iPhone 4. Horace Dediu of Asymco (who just started doing an awesome new show with Dan Benjamin) argues that it’s not meant for the U.S., but for tourists who can’t get iPhones in their home countries:
The way to think about it is that the iPhone has just become more “liquid” and it can now flow to parts of the world where it has been difficult to acquire. The iPhone was already liquid to some degree with unlocking and sales through Hong Kong/UK, but the US market’s retail footprint and the lower costs that result will boost liquidity dramatically and probably increase volumes substantially.