I think you miss the points in those articles that the reason why there were so few people lining up was because of Apple's new reservation system.
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iPhone 5's First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million
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I think you miss the points in those articles that the reason why there were so few people lining up was because of Apple's new reservation system.
And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
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.
Apple's reservation system seems to be working then. To buy a phone, you first have to reserve one. And since they don't let people reserve more phones than they have, Apple can sell two million phones without any queues. Queues are not a sign of high demand, queues are just an indication that an inefficient method is used to match available products with buyers.
Old system: Store has 1000 phones. 2000 scalpers arrive, forming huge queues, fighting starts. 100 of the scalpers buy the 1000 phones and sell them on at a profit (which means genuine customers pay lots more money than Apple gets). The other 1900 scalpers start a riot. New system: Store has 1000 phones. Store gives out 1000 reservations for phones. 1000 customers arrive throughout the day and pickup their phones. No queue. Also, Apple only sells if you enter a phone contract. So no scalpers. Genuine customers pay what Apple charges and no more.
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What are the bets that they compared Chinese price including tax and US price excluding tax? Every time you see US prices advertised, you need to add the appropriate tax. Every time you see European and it seems Chinese prices advertised, significant amounts of tax are included in the price.
God this site is going to the dogs with all the anti-Apple trolls here.
there are plenty here. and they just get excited posting apple bashing post...dont want to speculate what kind of excitement they get from it
and most signed up in the last two years
of course, you are not one of them
God this site is going to the dogs with all the anti-Apple trolls here.
It's morning in Asia. People just started to work.
I didn't imply anything. 
Well Citigroup downgraded the stock to neutral so I'm sure AAPL stock will take a beating again tomorrow. I hope they have a blow out quarter. I'd love to be able to tell these analysts to shove their FUD up their you know what.
I got mine on the release day in China and had no problem getting one. The place i went to had plenty of stock and were charging near enough the RRP (no official apple stores near me).
I thought by being in China, mine would be pretty new from the factory and wouldn't suffer from any scuff marks, but it's got quite a few, especially near the dock.
I thought by being in China, mine would be pretty new from the factory and wouldn't suffer from any scuff marks, but it's got quite a few, especially near the dock.
A restaurant worker can afford an iPhone5, are you kidding? Have you been to China and see a typical restaurant in small towns and outside of Beijing and Shanghai center? They are lucky to afford a regular smart phone.
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And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
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.
No use talking to trolls.
They won't let facts get in the way.
And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
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.
Have you even BEEN to China? Most of the country most assuredly does not live like that. A lot do, but not most. Even a small city in China has a population over a million.
You must be an analyst to state something so wrong with such an affirmative tone!
heh heh, are you sure you know what you are talking about? China unicom and China telecom both raise their contract price and contract term for Iphone 5 vs 4s. And the gift pack is basically junk.. No one in this msg board seems to like those gift pack.
http://bbs.weiphone.com/thread-htm-fid-466-page-1.html
The minimum wage in Shenzhen is CNY1,500 per month = USD240.323
Let's assume that they work 8 hours a day over 21 days i.e. Hourly wage is USD1.43
China is richer, but most Chinese are still poor
BTW... you can have a small city with a million people who are still living at or near poverty.
And then there are some people who are making a decent living... but still cannot afford to drop $800 on a cell phone.
My point was... all 1.3 billion people are not future Apple customers. I wouldn't even say half of China's population could afford $800 phones. In other words... most of China is off-limits to Apple.
That's what I meant. I apologize for saying most Chinese people live in impoverished villages.
Suuuuuuuuuuure you did.
God this site is going to the dogs with all the anti-Apple trolls here.
Stating facts that may reveal that Apple or the iPhone isn't the best isn't being anti-Apple; it's being an informed consumer who isn't biased towards the
or the robot.
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Stating facts that may reveal that Apple or the iPhone isn't the best isn't being anti-Apple; it's being an informed consumer who isn't biased towards the
Sorry I thought MacRumors would be a site mostly for Apple fans. These days it seems to be a site mostly for Apple haters. Or people who think they're superior to others because they're an "informed consumer" with no biases (yeah right). "Informed consumer" aka anti-Appe pro-anything else.
It is neither positive or negative because it is a meaningless number. We don't know the sell through number. Apple account sales different than other manufacturer (much stricter). When they ship an Iphone to a telecom, it is counted as sales since telecom will pay for them and resell them to end user. When Apple ship an Iphone to Apple store, it is not count as a sales until a customer pay for the Iphone. Apple management discussed the policy in either 4Q11 earning call (Jan 12) or 1Q12 earning call (Apr 12). Go back to earning call transcript if one is interested in the full scope.
The 2M number is basically what China Unicom and China telecom ordered in advance for their inventory + first weekend sales by the Apple stores in China (there are only 8 Apple stores in China now). The really interesting number is the sell through number which no one will disclose (China Telecom and China unicom will know this number now since they can count the activated Iphone 5. There are a lot of resellers that work with China Telecom and Chian unicom but not working for them. So counting the activation is the only way to figure out the initial sales number. Apple management may know the number by now but they won't tell. ). It is at best a mix picuture. China Telecom has 200.000 pre-order of 4S but China Unicom has 300,000 for 5.. But China telecom and some reseller has already start discounting.. That means they order way too many Iphone 5 and need to clear them. The total number of 3G subcribers in China is around 200M right now, so 2M is by no mean a big number.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/29/us-chinatelecom-results-idUSBRE89S05820121029
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/750288.shtml
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And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
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.
The first sentence of your post, with the attached photo, combined with your last sentence made me lol! Yeah, it'll be a great market.
And most of the Chinese population live in conditions like this:
Time to update your stereotype.