The latest, must-have toy for Russia’s elite, to the tune of 500,000 of them, is Apple’s iPhone, even though the product isn’t officially for sale there, according to the WashingtonPost on Saturday.

Eldar Murtazin, head of analysis at the Mobile Research Group in Moscow, estimated the 500,000 number based on data collected cellphone operators there. "Russian people love anything that is forbidden," Mr. Murtazin said.

The zeal for the Apple phone is in spite of the fact that it sells for the equivalent of US$700.00 in Russia. Even so, that’s a significant drop from when it first became available in Russia, right after the launch in that U.S. At that time, it sold for the equivalent of US$1,800.

Sergei Bobovnikov, Soviet propaganda art dealer said, "It’s a prestige thing. Having an iPhone is like being part of a club."

For a relatively small fee, Russian hackers will unlock the iPhone, install a Russian language pack and modify it to work with the Russian cell phone system. It takes about 45 minutes per phone to make the mod. Everything works except visual voicemail.

During last week’s Apple earnings report conference call, Apple’s Peter Oppenheimer said that the number of unlocked phones so so far is an indication of the popularity of the iPhone and gives Apple confidence that they’ll meet their 10M number in 2008. WIth numbers like these in Russia, that’s looking more and more like a sure bet.