Apple Japan stops selling iPhone 6 / Plus

[jpn]

apple japan has stopped all sales of iPhone 6 / + at both its web site and at its physical stores in japan.
both models can still be purchased by going to carriers and purchasing at one of the 3 major carriers.
japanese media are claiming the reason for this is the sudden and unexpected depreciation of the yen vs dollar rate.
its been like this since friday december 12 around 2pm.

 

[turtle777]

Crazy, but not unexpected.

Slightly related Comment: when are the Japanese people going to wake up and start a lynch mob against the politicians and central bank ?

I pity everyone living there, your currency is being trashed before your very eyes. The most optimistic outcome for the future is that you are ****ed. Worst case: completely and utterly ****ed.

In Nov 2012, I bought an ultra short JPY fund. My investment has doubled in just two years.


-t

 

[0007776]

Interesting, I'm guessing they will adjust the price to be more in line with the new exchange rate and it'll be back soon.

 

[Fzang]

They figured that all of their iPhones were being parallel imported to China anyway.

But might there be a source link? Or more comprehensive proof?

 

[0007776]

They figured that all of their iPhones were being parallel imported to China anyway.

But might there be a source link? Or more comprehensive proof?

I had to use google translate to be able to navigate that far into the Japanese store but it isn't hard to find and confirm that the OP is right. Here is a screenshot.

 

[Fzang]

I had to use google translate to be able to navigate that far into the Japanese store but it isn't hard to find and confirm that the OP is right. Here is a screenshot.]

Woah.

Isn't it common for Apple to adjust prices according to equivalent USD and local regulations though? I also imagine the phone will be back in a matter of days.

 

[0007776]

Woah.

Isn't it common for Apple to adjust prices according to equivalent USD and local regulations though? I also imagine the phone will be back in a matter of days.

I haven't followed them too closely, but my impression has been that price adjustments usually come when product is refreshed.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

apple japan has stopped all sales of iPhone 6 / + at both its web site and at its physical stores in japan.
both models can still be purchased by going to carriers and purchasing at one of the 3 major carriers.
japanese media are claiming the reason for this is the sudden and unexpected depreciation of the yen vs dollar rate.
its been like this since friday december 12 around 2pm.

I remember in the 80's how strong the yen was compared to the dollar. I went to visit Japan and bought myself a McD meal twice what I'd pay here at home. Everything was twice and even three times the price. It was so expensive traveling the train from Narita to Tokyo. A cocktail would cost $15-20. Quite honestly, it's our turn. Now, it's time for Japan to feel the power of the Dollar$$$.

 

[jpn]

I haven't followed them too closely, but my impression has been that price adjustments usually come when product is refreshed.

hello

here is my opinion: from a marketing perspective (as differentiated from a profit perspective) its bad timing. with sony experia line even having problems within its home market of japan, it has become a two player show: android vs. iOs, even in japan. with an iPhone 6 128 GB model selling for 99,000 JPY, even using the current exchange rate of 118 JPY/ 1USD, its equivalent selling price would be USD 847. this is nearly exact what the same (contract free, SIM free) price is in the USA.
so there was absolutely no compelling reason to pull it.
apple is still making its normal margins on it
just that it is not making its normal japanese margin on it.

its important to note that apple has not readjusted the price in japan. its simply has stopped selling it except through locked phones available through its carrier network in japan.
this is a "solution" to nothing. are they going to "wait and see if the exchange rate adjusts" ? even apple apparently knows that for an iPhone to cross a critical japanese consumer retail price level of 99,000 would be unwise.

a better solution would have been to not have done anything. leave it on sale as it was, and continue to use the iPhone as the entry device into apple's total product world. sony (experia) is weak in japan. and the japanese consumer really doesn't want to buy android if it has an affordable alternative.

 

[puma1552]

Crazy, but not unexpected.

Slightly related Comment: when are the Japanese people going to wake up and start a lynch mob against the politicians and central bank ?

I pity everyone living there, your currency is being trashed before your very eyes. The most optimistic outcome for the future is that you are ****ed. Worst case: completely and utterly ****ed.

In Nov 2012, I bought an ultra short JPY fund. My investment has doubled in just two years.


-t

I remember in the 80's how strong the yen was compared to the dollar. I went to visit Japan and bought myself a McD meal twice what I'd pay here at home. Everything was twice and even three times the price. It was so expensive traveling the train from Narita to Tokyo. A cocktail would cost $15-20. Quite honestly, it's our turn. Now, it's time for Japan to feel the power of the Dollar$$$.

sorry but the yen is no weaker than it was for the better part of the last thirty years, and is exactly where it was in 2007 against the dollar.

the yen just happened to be the strongest it had been since world war II for 2-3 years in the recent 5-6.

so its not that its abnormally weak, its that it just isnt abnormally strong as it has been very recently.

niji is right - they just arent making the usual extra margin they make on the japanese market, but their margin isnt exactly hurting and is right on par with the us. temporarily ceasing to sell seems like a stupid choice.

 

[nouveau-apple]

Not surprising. They might do that here

 

[ET iPhone Home]

Not surprising. They might do that here

Do what? Stop selling Apple products here in Apple Country? Not after I get my 2015 MBA, then it can stop.

 

[turtle777]

sorry but the yen is no weaker than it was for the better part of the last thirty years, and is exactly where it was in 2007 against the dollar.

the yen just happened to be the strongest it had been since world war II for 2-3 years in the recent 5-6.

so its not that its abnormally weak, its that it just isnt abnormally strong as it has been very recently.

If a 50% decline in 2 years in a major currency does not constitute weakness for you, nothing will.

What's staggering is not the absolute level of the Yen, but the rate of decline.

-t

 

[Acronyc]

Just to be clear as others have mentioned, Apple has stopped selling the SIM free iPhone in Japan. All locked iPhones are still available at all three major carriers. I walk by stores for all three carriers every day and they all advertise that they have plenty of stock. Locked phones are pretty much worthless to international resellers and to get one here you have to sign a contract, which requires a residency permit.

I've read three articles in tech publications here (in Japanese) that point to the reason being the exchange rate changing and the amount of parallel imports to other countries, specifically China. Personally I think either is possible but I do think the amount of people from outside Japan buying to resell was significant. One article mentioned that because of the currency weakening, the unlocked iPhone in Japan quickly became one of the cheapest available in the world. It was even on the news networks here. Foreigners made up a large portion of the initial lines at launch day here in Japan. I saw this myself, as I was at the Apple Store twice in the last month for Macs and both times there were huge lines of people predominantly from China purchasing multiple iPhones each.

I'm sure it'll be for sale again eventually but I'm glad that I got my unlocked 6 back in October.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Just to be clear as others have mentioned, Apple has stopped selling the SIM free iPhone in Japan. All locked iPhones are still available at all three major carriers. I walk by stores for all three carriers every day and they all advertise that they have plenty of stock. Locked phones are pretty much worthless to international resellers and to get one here you have to sign a contract, which requires a residency permit.

I've read three articles in tech publications here (in Japanese) that point to the reason being the exchange rate changing and the amount of parallel imports to other countries, specifically China. Personally I think either is possible but I do think the amount of people from outside Japan buying to resell was significant. One article mentioned that because of the currency weakening, the unlocked iPhone in Japan quickly became one of the cheapest available in the world. It was even on the news networks here. Foreigners made up a large portion of the initial lines at launch day here in Japan. I saw this myself, as I was at the Apple Store twice in the last month for Macs and both times there were huge lines of people predominantly from China purchasing multiple iPhones each.

I'm sure it'll be for sale again eventually but I'm glad that I got my unlocked 6 back in October.

Same here in the USA Apple don't sell iPhone 6/plus ATT unlocked, (some will say that you can buy the T Mobil sim free and it will work)
but to put on the Apple store site sim free iPhone 6/plus like they do on the iPhone 5S is not.

 

[puma1552]

If a 50% decline in 2 years in a major currency does not constitute weakness for you, nothing will.

What's staggering is not the absolute level of the Yen, but the rate of decline.

-t

And like I said, it was a correction since the yen was abnormally strong the several years prior.

Zoom out of your tunnel vision two year window and look at the bigger picture and exchange rate history over the last 70 years.

They aren't "****ed" or "completely and utterly ****ed" as you put it from your armchair with a short fund half a world away acting like an economic expert.

You should at least understand the difference between a genuinely weakening currency and a market correction. Using a comparison against it's all time high in 70 years in 2013 is a bad metric to judge the health of a currency.

 

[0007776]

Same here in the USA Apple don't sell iPhone 6/plus ATT unlocked, (some will say that you can buy the T Mobil sim free and it will work)
but to put on the Apple store site sim free iPhone 6/plus like they do on the iPhone 5S is not.

Are we really still having people confused by that old thread? Apple does sell unlocked T-Mobile, and AT&T phones in the US if you pay full price, and the Verizon ones are unlocked no matter what. That's why scalpers have been able to buy them there since launch day.

And it would make sense that Apple is trying to restrict unlocked supplies from scalpers considering how close Japan is to the rest of Asia so they want to make it more difficult for the scalpers to get them.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Not surprising. They might do that here

Stop selling it here because our dollars depreciated too much against our own dollars? Do you know how silly that sounds?

 

[CEmajr]

Same here in the USA Apple don't sell iPhone 6/plus ATT unlocked, (some will say that you can buy the T Mobil sim free and it will work)
but to put on the Apple store site sim free iPhone 6/plus like they do on the iPhone 5S is not.

They've been selling the unlocked 6/6 Plus here in the US since launch.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

They've been selling the unlocked 6/6 Plus here in the US since launch.

I went to Apple store in CT and was told no unlocked,
and I know all the story about it ,but that what I was told.

 

[T5BRICK]

It's strange that Apple stopped selling the unlocked model. I'd guess that this is all about a lack of supply, not scalpers or currency issues.

I went to Apple store in CT and was told no unlocked,
and I know all the story about it ,but that what I was told.

The Apple Store employees don't always know what they're talking about. An AT&T iPhone 5c/5s/6/6+ purchased from an Apple Store at full price will be unlocked. The Verizon iPhone 5c/5s/6/6+ is fully GSM unlocked regardless of where you purchase it.

 

[Acronyc]

It's strange that Apple stopped selling the unlocked model. I'd guess that this is all about a lack of supply, not scalpers or currency issues.

If you read the articles in the Japanese press, they say everything points to the currency weakening and massive amounts of resellers. Apple Japan officially gave no comment though, so in the end anything is just speculation.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

It's strange that Apple stopped selling the unlocked model. I'd guess that this is all about a lack of supply, not scalpers or currency issues.



The Apple Store employees don't always know what they're talking about. An AT&T iPhone 5c/5s/6/6+ purchased from an Apple Store at full price will be unlocked. The Verizon iPhone 5c/5s/6/6+ is fully GSM unlocked regardless of where you purchase it.

so it look like i am going to buy an iPhone 6 plus the verizon one. i am with att but it look like the verizon one has the most options of use,

 

[turtle777]

They aren't "****ed" or "completely and utterly ****ed" as you put it from your armchair with a short fund half a world away acting like an economic expert.

LOL, you obviously don't understand that FX corrections are not the CAUSE, but a symptom of something. else underlying.

Japan is f@@@ed due to their high debt and their decline in population.

Calling it a "correction" is just funny as hell

-t

 

[the caveman]

The stopped selling in Russia too becase of tanking rouble