The deadly hack of Hezbollah’s Asian pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ future, revealing a murky market for older technologies, with buyers having little certainty about what they’re getting.
While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly controlled, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia. Counterfeiting, excess inventory and complex contract manufacturing agreements can sometimes make it impossible to identify a product’s source, analysts and consultants say.
The response by the companies responsible for the booby traps that killed 37 people and injured some 3,000 in Lebanon this week underscores the difficulties in understanding how and when these devices were used as weapons.
