One New York teenager was so put out by Apple’s endless delays in delivering the white iPhone 4 that he used gray market sources to build a $130,000 business selling them himself.
17 year old Fei Lam started whiteiPhone4now.com after production problems (namely, light leaking through the casing and onto the camera’s sensor) caused the first of the white iPhone 4’s delays.
Like many similar sites, whiteiPhone4now.com sells aftermarket conversion kits that allow iPhone 4 owners to mod their iPhone 4s to a white model themselves.
Unlike most of those other sites, though, Lam knows a guy who knows a guy who works at Foxconn, and was able to get Apple certified white iPhone 4 components shipped to him straight in Queens.
That resourceful acumen has made Lam $130,000 richer, but it also might have put him in Apple’s legal crosshairs…. or perhaps the crosshairs of someone even shadier. Recently, Lam received a threatening letter from a P.I. who accused Lam of “selling stolen goods.”
Lam’s lawyering up, since he might face fines equal or exceeding the profits of his business if matters come to a head.
To be honest, though, we can’t help but wonder if the P.I. doesn’t have a point: having white iPhone 4 parts shipped straight to his door when Apple themselves won’t release them does seem more than a tad shady.
Either way, we hope the worst that happens to this kid is a slap on the wrist. We were all over-enthusiastic teenagers once, and I think we can all understand over-enthusiasm when it comes to Apple’s products. I admire the kid’s business savvy, if not his common sense.