Why are we " Americans" making such a commotion about this story. We see this all the time in business all over. Not to mention at all games. These are legit iPhones and if someone is desperate to spend a little more than let them. By the end of the day Apple has still made a profit off the scrapers. What's the deal seriously. Ok I can see why Apple might be a little ticked off with scrapers lurking in front of their stores. But people! This is not of any concern to us. Nothing to be ashamed of! This is not a racial issue either! The issue is that a bunch of people reselling iPhones that's it!
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iPhone Scalpers Force Temporary Closure of Beijing Apple Retail Store
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It doesn't matter to you, then, that real customers are denied the ability to purchase the product at the retail price, but they have to pay an additional ransom, instead?
It appears that the activation process in the store is a step in the right direction.
Quite. And its not as if every time you go to a gig in the UK that exactly the same thing doesn't happen.
Welcome to life.
Sorry I don't know what your point is. My statement is not false. So why are you contradicting it? One sentence is not enough anyway. Confused
Well for one, it'll quiet up all those naysayers who troll the forums everytime talk of an asian iPhone pops up, usually with some variation of "L@wl aisa has had lite saborrrzzxxx and vidjyo kallin since 198THEDAWNOFTIME iphone will iflop in china!1!", since the evidence of a black market indiciates some sort of pent up demand.
Yep not bad. Apple should use them as a distibution network and give them 10% discount... Oh wait a minute, that's called an Apple dealer isn't it!
I'm agreeing with you and providing an example of reselling in "the West" which noone cares about - and therefore another reason why its silly to care about reselling of iPhones in China.
Well a good intentioned comment is never a bad thing but I have seen very little of that.
The reason I think it's a big deal is because people are cutting lines over a phone, and getting into fights.
Recently, when I was on vacation in Europe, I went to an all you can eat buffet style restaurant. People didn't have a concept of a line. People jumped up and literally ran for the food when the fresh warm stuff was ready. I decided to act civilized, and ended up with the cold left-overs each time I went up there. I never experienced anything like that in the USA. Interestingly, sit down restaurant service was always excellent everywhere.
there are people in the philippines that are willing to pay around 75,000 pesos (roughly $1,500) for the iphone 4. that's one hell of a profit, considering i can get the 16gb for $200.
Well, the very reason some of these items are "hard to find" in the first place is actually BECAUSE so many of them are being snatched up by the armload by people who only are interested in reselling them. If everyone in that Chinese store only purchased one or two, many of the folks in the pic would have probably gone home happy. Scalpers sure wrecked that in a hurry. The People's Republic of Capitalism, indeed. Hard to believe Apple didn't see this one coming.
Years ago, I used to go to fundraiser book sales and estate sales looking for affordable art books until eventually it just basically got destroyed by dealers looking to make a buck. You could tell who they were because they were ALWAYS, ALWAYS first in line, looked really mean and nervous, and they had big cardboard boxes in both hands and a blanket over their shoulder. When the gate was opened, these asshats would literally RUN to the table of valuable art books and snatch up everything remotely interesting or valuable and literally dump them by the armload into cardboard boxes, shove them in a corner and throw a blanket over the pile, signifying it was "theirs". One guy I particularly liked to watch literally would shake, he would get so excited. Later, after a good pillaging anything else of value, these guys would go over to the corner and like a lion with a chunk of meat turn their backs and pore thru everything to actually look at what they got. After 20 minutes or so, they'd dump off the junk- damaged books and non-first editions for the poor suckers like me that just wanted a good book or two.
A couple weeks later those 25 cent art books showed up in the neighborhood book store for 79.95.... now conveniently out of my price range. Thanks!
Now you can see these guys at estate sales..... same techniques, only now they're using iphones to look up the value of everything they have in their piles. What a godsend for them.
On some level, this same crap started happening in real estate the last 5 or 10 years.... everyone became a part-time speculator looking to make a buck on something underpriced. Pretty much took care of anything even remotely a good deal. Thanks! Just imagine if everyone did this on everything........
But I must say, I agree with you on some level- people are stupid for NEEDING to buy frivolous fad items the day they come out. If they're foolish enough to demand it immediately, its gonna cost them, one way or another. Apple will make millions more, soon enough. WTF is the rush?
I agree. The amount of international scalpers here in Canada are ridiculous. Every morning since launch, every Apple store has had lineups of over 50 people, and when you see what they're buying, its always 2 unlocked phones. I've even seen some of them putting up classifides posts from their iPhone 4's while waiting in line to buy 2 more iPhone 4's to scalp.
I usually quote them a ridiculously high price ($1500 USD or so...) Enough to deter them from buying it from me as I like my iPhone and have no intention to sell it. Now if they really want it for that much, I won't say no.
I guess us in the US are kinda spoiled by the $199 price point, at that price level, I don't even view my iPhone as a luxury item, it's just a device I use every day. (I don't care about the contract length, AT&T's the only carrier with a suitable plan for my family anyways, so I'd be with them no matter what anyways, might as well take whatever subsidy they'll give me every now and then...)
Japan is moving to credit cards fast though. I used to live there, and still return there yearly.
Around 8 years ago it was the way you describe.
This year I incidentally noticed it was pretty cash-free. I managed to spend 2 weeks there, mostly in countryside, with about 200 USD worth of yen in cash only.
Not exactly a mainstream economic plan, there.
You may want to read a little slower.
So how is it that so many Chinese can afford iPhones to cause a shortage when they make such tiny salaries over there? I mean, LOOK at that store!
Could it be that the propaganda constantly being rammed down our throats about how poor the Chinese are is *wrong*? Gee, that would be something wouldn't it?
Could it be that the propaganda constantly being rammed down our throats about how poor the Chinese are is *wrong*? Gee, that would be something wouldn't it?
So how is it that so many Chinese can afford iPhones to cause a shortage when they make such tiny salaries over there? I mean, LOOK at that store!
Could it be that the propaganda constantly being rammed down our throats about how poor the Chinese are is *wrong*? Gee, that would be something wouldn't it?
It's a numbers game. China has something like 1.6 billion people. Even if only 10% of them made enough to afford buying an iPhone... that would be 160 million potential customers...
So how is it that so many Chinese can afford iPhones to cause a shortage when they make such tiny salaries over there? I mean, LOOK at that store!
Could it be that the propaganda constantly being rammed down our throats about how poor the Chinese are is *wrong*? Gee, that would be something wouldn't it?
True and false. China has more dollar billionaires than any other country except for the USA. They have a very large number of rich people, but that large number is a small percentage of their population. The propaganda is true. The median and average chinese is poor, but they have millions of very rich people, and only two Apple retail stores.
Wow. Will nothing make you people happy. Thread after thread of people saying how Apple has become a soul-less, money-sucking corporation, gouging people for more money than an iPhone actually costs to make. Then this thread of them actually eschewing immediate profits to ensure the best outcome for the consumer, satisfaction and fair distribution of their products. Not to mention the fact that in this scenario, scalpers take on the role Apple was being accused of: money-hungry and gouging. Apparently it's okay for scalpers, but not for Apple. If you genuinely don't see why scalping is harmful to consumers, then there's no hope for you or your (supposed) sense of right and wrong.
You people need to make up your fricking minds, because you're boring the crap out me.
Just what the world needs more of... Why don't people like this get real jobs... They would steal and take advantage of their own Mothers...