China is the country where most new iDevices arrive by not very legal means, and now the devices are in Beijing can be purchased at prices that start from $1200 and reach up to $1700, but here we are only talking about the 16 GB version. The sellers there are aware of the fact that the prices are high, but considering that there is demand, they continue to sell the terminals with an addition of almost $1000 for each unit sold. In Hong Kong, the devices have a starting price of $720, but they are not available in stores, so Chinese retailers make a lot of money with each iPhone sold.
I could not say that in Romania things are different, some people buy the terminals for 1500€ from local dealers, but in Europe the prices start from 600€. Considering that the terminals in the US are sold decoded at full price by Apple, I expect that on the black market the prices will drop significantly, even if those devices are not compatible with the 4G LTE networks in Europe. Now the iPhone 5 is very expensive, but in a few weeks the prices will become affordable for those who really want it.
