Russian mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy has started the first sales of iPhone 4 in Russia on Tuesday night despite the lack of direct agreements signed with Apple.
Russian mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy has started the first sales of iPhone 4 in Russia on Tuesday night despite the lack of direct agreements signed with Apple.
All the gadgets are delivered to the shops by the operators.
Just hours before the launch of the sales despite forecasts that Svyaznoy will cancel the night action more than 400 people lined up near a point of sale on Tverskaya Street, downtown Moscow.
The first 50 buyers of officially registered iPhone 4 could give back their old iPhones and get a 50% discount.
Shortly after midnight a crush started near the doors of the shop. Executive vice-president of Svyaznoy, Michael Tuch, could not say how many gadgets the shop planned to sell on the first night. He said only that Apple delivered far fewer gadgets to Russia in its first batch than the company is ready to sell.
6/8
© RIA Novosti . Valeriy Melnikov
However, there is no craze about iPhone 4 expected in Russia like it was in the United States or Britain where the gadget with a contract of an operator could be sold at $200, Tuch said.
Tuch explained that this is because the cell phone is rather expensive in Russia. Svyaznoy will sell a 16GB iPhone 4 Phone for 31,600 rubles ($1,000) and a 32GB iPhone 4 Phone for 36,900 rubles ($1,200). He said the price was set by Apple and is the one for the whole country.
After iPhone 4 entered the Russian market the prices for the previous models started declining. Now it is possible to buy an 8GB iPhone 3GS for less than 25,000 rubles ($800).
