Today, there have been numerous stories on various Australian news sites about Apple blocking Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for various patent infringements. Of course, the immediate effects for consumers is that they cannot buy the device within the country and businesses such as carriers and technology shops are unable to sell the device at all. At this stage, it seems unclear as to how long the patent dispute might last so if you’ve had your eyes on this device you might be in for a wait.
However, there is another way to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab (or any other device yet to be released down under that has been released elsewhere in the world).
If you can find a shop overseas (particularly in the USA) you can use a mail forwarding service such as comGateway to purchase the device on your behalf and send it on to you in Australia. Sure, it will mean an up front cost compared to paying by the month on a plan with a local carrier but you will get your device sooner and possibly cheaper given the strength of the local currency.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind though.
Firstly, you may not end up with an international warranty which means if the device fails for whatever reason you may end up having to send it back to the country of origin. You should do some research to check on the warranty implications before you buy to avoid having incorrect expectations or nasty surprises later on. Secondly, you should check that the cellular frequency capabilities of the device align with those available with your chosen carrier. Other countries do use alternate cellular technologies such as CDMA, WiMax and LTE which may not be used here at all or scarce at best.
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