Nadia Gonzaga's Blog

I came across this video while checking  Twitter and I found it to be interesting, yet at the same time, appalling. We have all heard and seen the outrageous line ups for the release of Apple’s brand new inventories. The most popular items include the iPhones in which dedicated Apple consumers line up for hours, even days, to get their hands on one. With the recently release of the iPhone 6, people still lined up outside stores of course, but not with the original intention.

For past iPhones, consumers lined up because of pure excitement and interest in the Apple product itself. Like any loyal consumer, after waiting long hours to get into the store and finally buy one with their own hard-earned money, they would normally start using the device, testing out its features, and sync it with their other devices. The video shows people lining up for an entirely different purpose. At first, it seems that all these customers are in line to buy the iPhones for personal use. However, once they start walking out of the store with 2, 3, even full bags of iPhones, you start to get suspicious. As the camera shows, the consumers already started selling the phones to other people who paid in pure cash. We can assume that the original consumer sold the phone for more than they bought it, therefore making some profit.

This leads to a correlating article that states that in China, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are being sold for $1430 and $2400, respectively, by smugglers wanting to make a brisk profit. Although the black market, is profitable for the smugglers, I believe that it is an unethical way of making money and is ultimately detrimental to the economy. First of all, if a good part of the consumers purchase multiple iPhones just to sell it to other people, most of Apple’s target market is not reached. With most of the inventory sold to customers that do not really care, the consumers that actually value Apple products for its features and efficiency miss out on purchasing a phone right away and are put off. Apple may lose some of its devoted consumers and may need to end up cutting prices of their products. The black market negatively affects the economy as a whole in ways in which taxes are lost and unfair competition arises. It is insane to see smuggling and the black market thrive within the world of technology and I believe if Apple does not capitalize on this issue, serious consequences will result.

References

CaseyNeistat. “Black Market Takes Over the iPhone 6 Lines.” Online video clip. Youtube, 20 September 2014. Web. 26 September 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef_BznBwktw#t=369>

Wan, William, and Liu Liu. “IPhone 6s Being Sold for Insane Amounts of Money in China.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/22/iphone-6s-being-sold-for-insane-amounts-of-money-in-china/>

Image

Neistat, Casey. Digital image. Cult of Mac. Cultomedia Corp., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cultofmac.com/297103/video-shows-black-market-took-iphone-6-lines/>