Josh OngMichael Kan of Computerworld covered the launch of the smartphone. With "more than 1,000 people lined up outside" the brand new Beijing store, Saturday's iPhone 4 launch saw significantly better turnout than last week's rained-out iPad launch.
Several Apple fans camped out for the release, with the coveted first place in line going to Yu Zhong Hui, who lined up after 5 a.m. Thursday. "When you want something, you have to pay a price. The price I paid is that everyone has had to see me wait out here," Yu said, according to the report.
Last week, China Unicom announced that over 50,000 users preordered the device on the first day that preorders were offered, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The announcement alleviated analyst's fears that China's lucrative gray market, which bypasses official channels to bring devices in from overseas, had cooled consumer interest for the phone.
After last year's launch of the iPhone in China, China Unicom saw an underwhelming 5,000 new subscribers in the iPhone's first week of availability. The muted sales may have come as a result of regulatory complications that prevented the official China iPhone from launching with Wi-Fi.
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70 Comments
With more than 1,000 people lined up outside
*cough*
Very impressive.
But how about getting the white phone out, Apple. Or at least, provide us an update, so that those that are still waiting (like my wife has been) can make a decision.\
According to the trolls no one in China will buy one. We'll see soon enough.
According to the trolls no one in China will buy one. We'll see soon enough.
And just wait until they(the Chinese) get the CDMA iphone in Jan '11.
Wait... D'oh!
According to the trolls no one in China will buy one. We'll see soon enough.
Which is funny after even the original iPhone seemed to huge market for Apple right out of the gate. Possibly the 2nd larger user base after the US within the first few months of sales.
On the other hand, with 1.3 BILLION people having 1000 people in queue is pretty small.