One wireless retailer thinks they know where a lot of the missing iPhones are, according to Information Week on Friday. Wireless Imports estimated that 100,000 to 200,000 iPhones are in Hong Kong, ready to be unlocked and sold to customers world wide.

Wireless Imported reported that it has shipped a large chunk of Apple iPhones in their original boxes to Hong Kong, and they think that many, many more have wound up there.

"We ship them to Hong Kong sealed in the box for customers to unlock however they please," Shawn Zade said. He’s the company’s senior sales associate.

Even as Apple reduced the price of its iPhone for regular customers, Wireless Imports, according to Elena Malykhina at Information Week, keeps the price high, about US$600, due to the cost of unlocking the phone.

"The unlocking process can take a half hour or it can turn into a huge ordeal and become a six-hour process, which gets expensive," said Mr. Zade.

The article noted that customers all over the world have seen iPhoned for sale, unlocked. Location include the Phillippines, Australia, India, South America, Russia, the Middle East, Canada, Thailand and Africa.

Finally, the article didn’t get into whether this is good or bad for Apple -- simply that it’s one of the byproducts of the tight grip Apple and AT&T have tried to keep on the iPhone. Apple has taken some steps to stop this process by refusing to take cash and limiting the number of iPhones individuals can buy. Even so, it’s not clear if all those unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong were bought before the steps Apple took and what effect Apple’s measures have had recently.