Shane Cole
Thousands of Chinese consumers descended on China Mobile stores across the Middle Kingdom Friday as the iPhone made its official debut on the world's largest wireless carrier.
Friday's launch marked the culmination of years of stop-and-start negotiations between Apple and China Mobile, the last of China's three state-owned wireless telecommunications companies to gain access to Cupertino's handset. Joining the crowds to celebrate the occasion in Beijing were Apple CEO Tim Cook and China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua — Â the duo autographed ten handsets given to contest winners from across the nation.
Neither company has commented thus far on first-day sales, though they are expected to be brisk. China Mobile is said to have received "millions" of iPhone pre-orders following the partnership's announcement.
The photos below were collated by Singapore-based Flickr user jnaina and first spotted by Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
35 Comments
But The New York Times said only a dozen showed up. What a terribly negative and biased article.
The New York Times is reporting that only 12 people showed up to buy iPhones at the Beijing store where Tim Cook was present. This can't be right, can it? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/technology/apples-latest-foray-into-china-gets-a-weak-response.html?hp&_r=0
NYT probably went to a counterfeit Apple store. Frak the grey lady! So much for "fairly crowded" to be a negative.
Meanwhile on MacRumors front page is a click bait article from Digitimes claiming Apple is rushing a larger sized iPad to market because of what Samsung announced at CES. Thank you AI. :)
[quote name="Rogifan" url="/t/161622/photos-customers-line-up-for-long-awaited-china-mobile-launch-of-apples-iphone#post_2458975"]Meanwhile on MacRumors front page is a click bait article from Digitimes claiming Apple is rushing a larger sized iPad to market because of what Samsung announced at CES. Thank you AI. :)[/quote] Ha! "Click bait" reminds me of a middle manager at Apple (who will remain unnamed) giving a presentation on the Mac's "click and point" UI :D