Katie MarsalCompared to iPhone debuts in the U.S. and Japan, the Chinese launch was "subdued," The Wall Street Journal reported. While the reaction was not necessarily indicative of sales, it is likely due to the fact that gray market phones have been available for import in China for years, and at competitive prices.
Still, many attended to official China Unicom launch party Friday night. Around the nation, though, reports of sales did not indicate significant demand. Apple and China Unicom did not announce any launch sales figures for the 2,000 locations where the iPhone was available.
"At the Apple store in Beijing, the company's only location in China, the crowd seemed less enthusiastic," the report said. "Employees cheered anyone who came in with chants of 'iPhone! iPhone!' But there were no lines for the stacks of new iPhones."
On Friday, the iPhone debuted with a relatively high price of 6,999 yuan, or $1,024, for the high-end iPhone 3GS without a service contract. The same handset can be purchased in Hong Kong for about $800.
Some potential buyers have been turned off by the lack of Wi-Fi in the handset. The feature was left out because the Chinese government temporarily banned the wireless standard in favor of a rival Chinese offering. But that ban was relaxed in May, after manufacturing of the new iPhone model began. China Unicom has said it hopes to have Wi-Fi in the next batch of iPhones intended for release by the end of the year.
Apple and China Unicom announced their three-year deal for the iPhone in August. The non-exclusive agreement has left the door open for a potential deal with China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier.
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43 Comments
The iPod doesn't do well in China, either. By the end of 2007 Apple had only 7.5% of the digital music player market in China. Macs do much worse in China. Apple typically doesn't break 80,000 Mac sales a year in China. But none of these patterns really affected Apple's bottom line. Despite weakness in China, the iPod, for example, still dominates overall.
Wow. This could be a disaster unless there is an embedded wifi chip that can be turned on. Hope Apple got paid upfront for the handsets, and does not have to take a write-off.
With no wifi + $1000 + the next one with wifi coming soon, one could this coming from a mile away.
As I mentioned before, Apple's sales will find a level of equilibrium at some point. Just give it time.
They're probably so used to buying knockoffs, they don't give the actual original product a chance.
Oh, you will have known all that long before, if you read AI.