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iPhone 5's First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million
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Never is the full population considered to be the smartphone buying market so I would consider what you've just said to be a truism.
Well let me first refute your last point by pointing out that I have clearly and unequivocally not said that Apple failed in any way, I merely said that it is not as impressive as Apple are picturing it and have even congratulated them at the end of my post so please do not approach what I say in a dichotomous manner.
Going back to your first point, I don't think it is silly to compare populations. It is indeed very difficult to compare smartphone markets and China indeed has a huge portion of its population which lives a life of poverty. At the same time, due to wealth distribution in the country, there is a lot of upper-middle and upper class people in the country and consequently one could argue that the smartphone buying market is comparable or even bigger than in the 9 aforementioned "initial" countries.
The choice of carriers is irrelevant and moreover you seem to assume that the iPhone 5 was available at a larger number of carriers and/or at the biggest ones in the 9 countries, which is not true (take UK for an example).
Finally your 3G argument, which is also completely irrelevant. To most people 4G support isn't a reason to buy an iPhone 5 - I happen to work in the advertising business and I must say, the biggest problem when it comes to promoting 4G is explaining its advantages to John Doe, without simply stating that it's faster. I would argue that most of iPhone 5 buyers don't even understand what 4G is - it's just a number to them, and 4 is better than 3, and that's it; it can't be considered a selling point. Moreover 4G isn't available in every country from the "initial 9" and each of those countries also has patchy 3G coverage.
It's good to see Apple releasing weekend "box office" figures. It would also be nice to hear them report first week or two overall sales, maybe by region. I think that would be course enough to give guidance without disclosing proprietary info. Anything that gives a metric that puts uptake in a positive light will bias toward the things they want such as negotiations with carriers and with TV programming concatenators.
Rocketman
Rocketman
And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
![rural-village-in-china.jpg]()
So 2 million the first weekend is fine considering their addressable market.
And don't forget... this was just the first weekend. Apple will keep selling iPhones in China from now on.
China will be a good market for Apple.
Indeed. In fact, it's much the same here in Canada.
Canada is an awesome market for the iPhone as well.
Although it sucks to have to ride the sled 2 days to the nearest Apple Store in Edmonton, once we get our hands on our iPhones it makes the trip completely worth it.
Wow. It doesn't matter how well Apple does, haters are going to hate.
Get it straight people. Apple just sold two million more iPhone 5 units.
Who cares about the percentage of the population??? No matter how you slice it, two million is a lot of freaking phones!!
If you can, buy stock. Now, now, NOW.
Get it straight people. Apple just sold two million more iPhone 5 units.
Who cares about the percentage of the population??? No matter how you slice it, two million is a lot of freaking phones!!
If you can, buy stock. Now, now, NOW.
Agreed. If 2 million is only a tiny sliver of the population, think about the potential! Apple just sold a ton of iPhones in China, but has the potential to sell many, many, many more tons.
Exactly. And that was just 3 days.
The iPhone will continue to be on sale in China this week, next week and beyond!
I'm not saying they don't care... it's just that car manufacturers have a lot more to keep up with when comparing themselves to a dozen other manufacturers.
To us... it's simply Android vs iPhone. Or Samsung vs Apple. Easy.
I can see how difficult it would be to keep up with Civics v Nissan Sentra v Hyundai Accent v Kia Rio v whatever.
And Accord v Nissan Altima v Hyundai Sonata v Kia Optima v whatever.
But anyway... the original comment I replied to was talking about market share and how Apple needed more of it. Android has a ton of market share... and Apple not so much.
That's why I mentioned cars... where there are many models competing on that chart. There is no single manufacturer or model who has 70% of the market, like Android does. It's sorta spread out across all the manufacturers.
I never understood the market share argument anyway. Yes... Android has a ton of market share. But Apple is laughing all the way to the bank at #2 or #3 depending on the chart you are looking at.
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OK... well I tried to provide some excuses to why the iPhone didn't sell well in China on its launch weekend.
And you've just invalidated all of them.
So... is the iPhone just gonna have a bad time in China?
From what I understand, you have to upfront the entire contract, say 5000 rmb into your account balance and then China Unicom or whatever just dips into that every month. That's at least what I've seen for a few people I know. I think it's because there is a non existant credit system in China and they know plenty of people can't be trusted to pay back a service plan. Plenty of people buy from Hong Kong instead (if they know someone with a Hong Kong credit card) which is one of the cheapest places to buy apple hardware.
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I think just different markets in two different approaches
Android actually care about how much people using the devices as Google need that number for bargaining with Ads company.
Apple indeed looking for how to maximize their profit with the prestigius "image".
Just like Economy car must have much higher market share than Luxury cars. Why not Ferrari head for those 20000 USD markets?
I bet if LV/Gucci make some backpack in Jansport price, they will earn much higher market share as well.
Anyway, just different styles of business.
I smell trolling. Oh wait posting bad things about Apple is not considered trolling on macrumors, only defending Apple is. My apology.
err nope I didn't say that at all, I said their design of the iPhone 5 could be better! Apple have the tendancy to do the minimum sometimes, ring out every last penny of a product and don't update it very much. My daughter loves her iPhone 5, I still like my 4 but won't buy a 5 because I think they dropped the ball. But do they care if their making money, maybe not, but I'm sure if this was Steve still at the helm resting on their laurels was not one of his directives. Android are scooping the market under their feet.
Samsung sold 18 mill S3's compared to Apples 16 million iPhones in the 3rd quarter, and their sales figures are climbing. My point was simply making news that Apple had sold x amount of iPhones in China isn't big news.
Maybe Apple doesn't care but I know Steve would have or he wouldn't have so much in his book!
Is there some kind of contest I'm unaware of? What do you get for 2nd place?
Apple is the only company that can make billions of dollars as the runner-up.
Speaking of that... Apple makes more money but sells fewer phones than Samsung. Seems like Apple figured out the secret... more results from less work.
Oh... and you might wanna check your figures... Apple sold 26.9 million iPhones last quarter.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/10/25Apple-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-Results.html
huh?? Apple sold 16M iphone in 3Q? This is from the earning announcement for 3Q12... China sale is a big deal because it will be the second biggest market for any cell phone maker in the world in a year or two..
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technolo...al-3q-profits-miss-wall-streets-expectations/
My point being as I stated soo many times is, if all people want Apple to do is make money then fine, obviously I want them to make money but more importantly I'd like them to not loose ground in market share to a copycat company like Samsung, especially in China! I gave the Q3 figures to show the S3 sales over the iPhone and Samsung's year on year growth and dominance.
If you think it's fine for Apple to sit back and invent less then fine, China is the worlds biggest market and also a place where Apple has yet no real brand loyalty, so they are giving the lead in smartphone sales to Samsung but being overpriced and safe.
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Jeez I give up explaining my point ...lets see exactly how much Apple is dominated in China by Samsung in a year. Remember it's not just phones but the IOS system and the interconnection of the Mac etc etc, Apple is giving this huge market away by being overpriced and safe with it's design. I hate to say it but side by side the S3 looks and feels way better then the iPhone 5.
Ah... I see.
The thing about market share is... it's something that looks great on a chart... but doesn't really have a lot to do with daily life. I don't think people really care where a company ranks on the chart.
Like I said before... does someone looking at a Honda know where they rank among Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and every other car maker? No... they just buy the car that they like.
It's fun to line every company up and make comparisons of the market as a whole... but there's not much you can do with it after that.
Here's the forecast of the Top 5 OEMs for 2012:
Smartphones
28% Samsung
20% Apple
5% Nokia
5% HTC
5% RIM
ALL Phones
29% Samsung
24% Nokia
10% Apple
6% ZTE
4% LG
Apple is 2nd place in global smartphone sales... and 3rd place in ALL phones sold in the world.
That's actually not bad considering they only make one new phone a year... and it's a rather expensive phone.
I hear ya. I love my iPhone... and a lot of other people do too.
But personal feeling aside... more people are buying Samsung phones for whatever reason. It doesn't make Apple's products any less impressive.
I'd rather Apple keep making the level of products they've been making... than sacrifice it all to gain a few more points on a chart.
Think about sports. If you have a lower score at the end of the game... you lose. If you lose enough games... you don't get into the playoffs and your season is over.
Apple doesn't have the biggest number on the chart... but their season is never over. Apple will be making products for the rest of our lives... regardless of what the other guys are doing.
If it were true, how could those party members' concubines afford their Louis Vuitton and Mini Cooper?
In the end, it all comes down to this: Apple must offer an iPhone 5 model that takes full advantage of China Mobile's cellphone network.
The problem is that China Mobile's network is unique in many ways technically, and you can't just use an "unlocked" iPhone 5 to take full advantage of the network. I wouldn't be surprised that right now, Apple has prototype iPhone 5's in testing with specially-modified radio chips and a modified antenna design that is China Mobile-specific, and it will be rolled out some time in spring 2013.
The problem is that China Mobile's network is unique in many ways technically, and you can't just use an "unlocked" iPhone 5 to take full advantage of the network. I wouldn't be surprised that right now, Apple has prototype iPhone 5's in testing with specially-modified radio chips and a modified antenna design that is China Mobile-specific, and it will be rolled out some time in spring 2013.