If buying an unlocked iPhone 3G is on your to-do list, you might want to take a look at the Hong Kong Apple website. Starting today, you can pick up either the 8GB or 16GB versions of Apple’s iPhone 3G sans-contract and unlocked to any GSM carrier, worldwide. The price is a bit on the high side, but with no other alternatives besides a hardware unlock, the choice is simple: wait for a software unlocking solution from the iPhone Dev Team or pony up and pay the premium direct from Hong Kong.
The 8GB model is currently listed at HK $5,500 ($694 USD) and the 16GB is HK $6,200 ($797). The big dilemma here is that sales of the unlocked iPhone 3G are limited to Hong Kong only – so you might want to look into finding a reliable pen pal to make the purchase and arrange shipping.
“iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation.”