iPhone roll out in China
If Apple thought the Japanese market for its iPhone was difficult to crack, then the recent roll out in China might make Apple think otherwise. From all reports, the Chinese weren’t even lukewarm to Apple’s flagship product.
China Unicom, the exclusive carrier for the device in the country, reported that it signed up 5,000 iPhone subscribers in the first four days it was available. That’s certainly not a blockbuster opening weekend by any standard, especially in a country with over 500 million users. Don’t forget that AT&T had 146,000 sign-ups on the weekend of the original iPhone in June 2007.
Cost may be a factor affecting sales in China. The price tag for a 32GB iPhone 3GS is 6,999 yuan, or $1,024. Not only is the service contract not included but the units lost its WiFi capability also.
Then there is China’s Shanzhai culture or fake goods. Apparently there is a large number of iPhone knockoffs which have legal access to China Unicom’s network. Some iPhone knockoff owners have switched to the real McCoy in order to receive upgrades and access to the Apple Store. China Unicom hopes to persuade a large number of these knockoff owners to switch.
Cell phone knockoffs are not restricted to China. It is a worldwide problem. Analysts said the worldwide “grey market” cell phone market is 1.13 billion units. The number of “grey market” units in China is 143 million or about 13 percent of the world total.
Only time will tell whether the iPhone in China can duplicate its success story in the U.S.A.
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Excellent post. This is great stuff!!