400,000 unlocked iPhones in China

Apple is losing big money as unlocked iPhones proliferate around the world.

By the end of 2007 there were already 400,000 unlocked iPhones on China Mobile alone, not counting China Unicom and carriers in Hong Kong, reports ITWire.

China Mobile reportedly turned down Apple’s offer to share in the monthly revenues, as it does with AT&T, O2, Orange and Deutsche Telekom.

The official carriers generate big monthly commissions for Apple via the four million iPhones sold worldwide. When the iPhone is unlocked and used on another network, Apple gets nothing.

Savvy entrepreneurs have reportedly been purchasing hundreds of thousands of iPhones in the US and Europe, then “cracking” the operating system to allow the device to be used on any GSM network.