The last place that Cameron Johnson expected his newly purchased iPhone to land him was in hot water.
The 42-year-old Torontonian drove down to Buffalo last month on a mission to buy a couple iPhones — one for himself, and the other he planned on selling on Craigslist with a substantial markup. But he forgot to declare the expensive goods to the Canada Custom officers, who caught the iPhone in Mr. Johnson's back seat at the Niagara Falls, Ont. border crossing.
"The one officer said to the other, 'Hey Ted, look! An iPhone!'" said Mr. Johnson, who manages a portfolio of online domain names. "And of course, they had to get rid of the grin and be serious with me. They said to me they had to seize [the iPhones] and I started blubbering."
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It was a dark turn of events for Mr. Johnson, who wound up paying a $400 fine and an hour in a holding cell.
"I remember thinking to myself while I was in the holding tank, 'What am I doing here and why does my technolust get the best of me?'" said Mr. Johnson,
But you can hardly blame Mr. Johnson for getting caught up in the moment. After being released last June to a flurry of media attention and hype, the iPhone has emerged as the hottest consumer product to hit the market this year. And although more than a million iPhones that are estimated will be sold by the end of this quarter reside in the hands of happy Americans, some have managed to make their way north of the border.
Since the device isn't being retailed through one of the country's cellphone providers, Canadians who do own an iPhone have either hacked their way through the authorization process or pay steep international roaming fees while tethered to an AT&T contract.
Calgary resident Mike Stafford is one Canadian who is self-admittedly "paying through the nose," for his iPhone. Mr. Stafford never expected to be holding what Apple fans have dubbed the "Jesus Phone" in his hands, but after visiting San Francisco on business on the same day the device was being launched, the allure was just too strong for him to resist.
"About 11:50 p.m., we were just walking by the Apple Store and we noticed a couple security guards standing idly by out front. Just for a joke, I asked them if they're all sold out of iPhones and they said they still had some in stock," said the 32-year-old computer programmer. "A few minutes after I stepped inside, an Apple employee comes bursting in carrying the day's last shipment, so I wound up buying two of the 8 GB models."
Mr. Stafford originally wanted to turn around the units and sell them on eBay for a quick profit, but after some hemming and hawing, decided to activate one of the phones for his own use and sell the other one to a friend.
"I've got a U.S.-based phone with Verizon for business, so I thought I should be able to just switch it over [to my iPhone]. It took some working since I don't have a [U.S.] social security number, I had to give AT&T a $500 deposit. By the time I left to come home, I had a fully functional iPhone that works fine," said Mr. Stafford. "In Canada, I get shifted to the Rogers network, but the visual voicemail, Wi-fi, iPod, all that, it all works fine."
