The search for the missing iPhones continues, with analyst Tony Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research throwing more numbers around in what at least partly looks like an attempt to justify his ongoing warmth toward Apple stock.  Sacconaghi suggests that a whopping 27-percent of the iPhones sold in 2007 have been unlocked and, in the vast majority of cases, are being used in countries where the cellphone is not officially available.  That works out to around one-million handsets unlocked, each estimated to be generating 50-percent less revenue and 75-percent less profits for Apple compared to those registered to authorised carriers.

Fellow analyst Mike Abramsky, of RBC Capital, agrees, putting the unlocked figure at between 25 and 30-percent, although he believes that unlocked iPhones are both “financially positive for Apple” and “bode well for global demand”.

Both sets of estimates would leave around 480,000 iPhones in inventory.

While the bare numbers may be starting to add up, the scale of the unlocking issue looks to be far greater than anyone – perhaps even Apple themselves – imagined. 

[via Seeking Alpha]