Is Apple as smart as it looks?

Well, I couldn't say. Their approach (stubbornness I should say) to delay the introduction in every country of the EU, preferably unlocked, of their marvelous iPhone is beyond comprehension. It's right now that the greenback hits all-time lows and has got some more to go southwards vis-a-vis the Euro as 2008 advances. Apple needs to reach the sale of 10 million iPhone units by year end 2008 and... they claim they are on track. But it wouldn't hurt them at all if they secured even more that target with some extra units released in miserable countries like the Benelux, South Europe, Switzerland, etc... The bonus they get by the dollar further deteriorating will make up for most of the lost profit from unlocking the phone (meaning they won't get any added revenue from operators with exclusive rights). Any iPhone launched in Europe will bring them the best part of 750 bucks per unit whereas their equivalent cost remains virtually the same per unit.

Why they don't just do this and keep ignoring the largest part of a 500 million consumer market is a HUGE mystery to many of us...

As of this writing there is nobody with a clue about if or when there will be any iPhone launch in any of the remaining 24 countries of the EU. Should someone teach Messrs Jobs and Cook some geography about our markets? Who knows... they might be jealous of Gates and his Zune, only released in the US of A.