Exporting iphones, legal, and tax issues..?

Question

What are the laws regarding exporting Electronics out of the United States? Is a license needed? How much export tax will be applied? And is it legal to export commercial quantities of iphones?

Answer 1

You may need an export license to export to certain countries on the State Department list. Such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, etc. Other than that, there aren't any real issues. Apple might not like it, nor would AT&T, but there's really not a lot that they can do about it since unlocking a phone isn't illegal in this country. Yet anyway.

The issue that you MAY encounter is whether it will work in a foreign country. The iPhone is a GSM phone as is used in most countries however it won't work properly unless it's a quad-band phone. Many phones made solely for the US market are dual-band phones and will not work outside of North America. Most foreign countries use different bands from the ones that are used in the US so a quad-band phone is required.

The Moto RAZR is a quad-band phone and I use mine in Europe and China without any problem at all. However my older dual-band phones don't work outside of North America.

Find out if the iPhones you are considering selling are quad-band. If they are, they'll work anywhere once they're unlocked. At least as a phone. Some features may be carrier locked and unless you know how to bypass that, other features such as internet access, etc. may not work on any carrier other than AT&T.

Answer 2

Even if it is legal, Apple has an EXCLUSIVE deal with AT&T. An unmodified iPhone will not work anywhere AT&T does not provide service.