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Super news! You can officially buy the iPhone now. A company called PureMobile is selling them unlocked for a whopping $2,899.00. They ship within 24 hours, but the warranty is pretty much void on it. Check it out!

UPDATE: PureMobile have dropped the price of the unlocked iPhone by more than half to a much more reasonable $1,399.00

UPDATE 2: Another company, iPhone Anywhere, is selling the unlocked iPhone for as little as $700.00 for the 4GB version and $800.00 for the 8GB version.

UPDATE 3: PureMobile dropped their price again, now to $1,079.00 for the 8GB. Still cheaper from iPhone Anywhere.

A lot of people have been craving Apple’s sexy new iPhone since the day it came out. Unfortunately, the iPhone comes SIM locked to one provider (AT&T) in the United States. Many of you are thinking “that’s great, but when do I get my hands on one?” Well in short, you can’t — for the time being. The iPhone must first be unlocked before it can work on any other provider, such as Etisalat. While there have been a few successful methods for unlocking the phone, none are yet available that allow a novice user to follow instructions and unlock his/her iPhone.

What does all this mean? If you want to get an iPhone in Dubai, you’re going to have to wait. Once the iPhone has been commercially unlocked, you’ll be able to order it online through a reseller such as eXpansys. We will be closely following the turn of events of mission: unlock iPhone, and you’ll be the first to know of any advancements on this front.

UPDATE: The iPhone is now available to buy, with a nice price tag too.

Where does one go to buy computers and electronics in Dubai? Well, there are a two options. The first option is “computer street” — the hundreds of little computer shops on Khalid bin Waleed Street in Bur Dubai (aka Bank Street, Burjuman Street). This option is merely mentioned as a warning, and nothing more. Trade here is extremely unprofessional, somewhat like the stores of Karama or Satwa. Stock of products is scarce and random, at best. You can also forget about customer service here — if you though returning a defective product at the mall was a pain, try getting these guys to exchange something you’ve already paid for. If you wanna save a couple of dirhams, and like this kind of thrill, then go for it!

If you like doing business in a little more respectable way, then your best bet is Option #2: a nice, large retail store in a mall with lots of somewhat-helpful staff and an exchange/return policy a bit better than “once you’re out of the door”. Of course, we at doobye.com are strict Apple fans, so most of our electronic shopping is taken care of in one location.

For the rest of the crash-loving Windows® PC shoppers, other retailers are available. Sharaf DG [Tel: 04-368-5115] in Ibn Batuta Mall offers the widest range of computer and electronic goods in Dubai, by far. They’ve got everything including laptops, desktops, hard drives, printers, computer accessories, mp3 players, TVs, audio/video products, GPS products, mobile phones, game consoles, and pretty much anything else you would possibly need. Jumbo Electronics [Tel: 04-341-0101], Virgin Megastore [Tel: 04-341-4353], and CompuMe [Tel: 04-341-4442] (shorter exchange or return policy) in Mall of the Emirates offer the same, but with a smaller range of products. Another large computer and electronics retailer is Plug-Ins [Tel: 04-351-3919] at Burjuman and it’s new location [Tel: 04-206-6777] at Dubai Festival City.

Here at doobye.com, we are all fans of “Think Different”. Apple’s products are simply superior to their competition in every industry they exist — be it the best-selling line of iPods, the line of desktop and notebook Macs, or the recently announced iPhone and Apple TV. But until recently, finding up-to-date gadgets from Apple was close to impossible. Thankfully, IMC Middle East (the agent for Apple in Dubai and the Middle East) got their act together, and Apple products are now available in quite a few locations.

The best place is the Apple Center at the China Court in the Ibn Battuta Mall [Tel: 04-366-9797]. They have the widest range of products and can take your order if you want to custom build a computer. The staff there are the most knowledgeable out of the other retail locations. If you have a more technical question though, address it to the manager or supervisor since the sales people tend to make up information if they don’t know the answer (as is common in any store in Dubai).

Other retail locations include:

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