Get ready for the iPhone 4

By Wang Yu

Claims that Apple makes the world’s best gadgets may be debatable.

That the Cupertino-based hardware maker has the world’s most enthusiastic fans is not.

Its iPhone 4 is selling now in the US and later this month in Japan, UK, France and Germany, and since day one fans have been camping outside retailers hoping to become one of the first new users.

As usual, China’s Apple lovers will be left waiting for several months. In other words, the gray market is set to boom.

With a fresh look and upgraded hardware, the new iPhone 4 generated countless gray-market preorders on Taobao. For some users, the crusade to claim the next iPhone is one undertaken with near religious devotion.

Kyle Zhao is one of the editors of Youku.com. As a long-time Apple fan, the iPhone 4 has been on his shopping list since its release at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 last month. He hocked his old MacBook Pro and iPhone 3G to raise the money for one of the phones before its mainland launch.

“It’s a little risky to be such an early adopter, especially since the cost is doubled. But I am hoping to get one as soon as it is released in Hong Kong later this month,” Zhao says.

Gray-market iPhone 4s are already available in Hong Kong. The model with 16 GB of storage runs 8,500 yuan: in Zhongguancun, Beijing’s largest technology marketplace, that price more than doubles.

But that hasn’t stopped dealers from bringing them in. According to the latest financial statements from Apple, the company earned 1.3 billion yuan from iPhone sales in China this year. The iPhone 4 is set to smash that record.