What's wrong with Hong Kong ?

[roanmartigan]

Ok, so the new iPad had has been launched in a lot of countries already. One notable exception is China, probably partly because Apple products are always launched later in China and partly because of the continuing Proview/Apple dispute over the iPad trademark.

However, the iPad was launched in Hong Kong on the same day as the US. But apart from a couple of days at the begininning, the iPad has been unavailable on the online Apple store since then. Actually I believe it is only available through online reservation and online pickup.

What is the deal there ? This hardly seems to be a deterrent to scalpers. They can gladly register every day and pick up a couple of iPads, which is something most people cannot do because they are at work.

Does anybody have an insight on why the HK online Apple store does not sell the device ?

 

[thesiren]

Hey, that rhymes.

 

[roanmartigan]

Hey, that rhymes.

Thanks - that helps boosting my morale at least.

 

[roanmartigan]

No answers ? Nobody knows ?

 

[rdy0329]

Its does become available online.

Ok, so the new iPad had has been launched in a lot of countries already. One notable exception is China, probably partly because Apple products are always launched later in China and partly because of the continuing Proview/Apple dispute over the iPad trademark.

However, the iPad was launched in Hong Kong on the same day as the US. But apart from a couple of days at the begininning, the iPad has been unavailable on the online Apple store since then. Actually I believe it is only available through online reservation and online pickup.

What is the deal there ? This hardly seems to be a deterrent to scalpers. They can gladly register every day and pick up a couple of iPads, which is something most people cannot do because they are at work.

Does anybody have an insight on why the HK online Apple store does not sell the device ?

It does become available online, its just that they are available in limited quantity by the hour. So if all quantity for that hour is snatched up within 30 seconds, the system will list it as unavailable once again. That's how huge scalping market is in China. (according to my chinese scalping friend)

Non-hk residents cannot reserve for pick up since the form requires a HK ID card number. Thats why online is the only way to go for mainland chinese people. Plus online reservation for pick up is still a lottery type reservation so there's still a chance that your name wont be selected for pick up the next day.

Much like Mainlanders picking up LVs and Guccis in HK increasing demand and stripping supply for hongkongers, Apple decided to protect the interests of permanent residents of HK.

 

[Pressure]

Wasn't there a concern about riots and scalpers?

 

[rdy0329]

That too

Wasn't there a concern about riots and scalpers?

That too, so they made reservation and pick up for honkongers only and online for anyone (but very hard since you have scalpers standing by the computer by the hour waiting for the next batch to be available)

 

[808?]

You can get iPads at any number of Apple resellers around Hong Kong, you are not fixed to just the Apple Store online or the retail store in IFC.

 

[thelookingglass]

You can get iPads at any number of Apple resellers around Hong Kong, you are not fixed to just the Apple Store online or the retail store in IFC.

Yep. Tons of resellers in Hong Kong, owing to the fact that there hasn't been an Apple store in town until last year.

OP, why the fuss though? Why not just get one through the online reservation system? You'll get it faster and you can check the unit for defects at the store.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

The reservation system requires a government ID number so people can't just waltz in and buy 10 like they could last year (assuming there was any stock).

Contrary to what some people believe it only requires a government ID, not an HKID number, so the mainland Chinese are still coming down in hordes to buy them.

Personally I've had absolutely no luck with getting the reservation system to work. For the past week, I've been on the reservation page at exactly 9am to register for one black 64GB iPad. Haven't received a single email from them. So no- it's not necessarily 'faster'.

I eventually gave up and went to one of the local electronics chain stores (similar to Best Buy in the US)- looks like Apple have finally got their act together and managed to ship enough units for resellers to have stock throughout the day.

Unfortunately, these also require people to purchase at least HKD1500 (USD200) of other items before you're 'allowed' to buy one from them. Same story with the 'authorized resellers'- you need to spend a decent sum of money on accessories and the like before they'll sell an iPad to you. I'm guessing they aren't earning much with the iPad itself so to turn a profit they need to sell their overpriced accessories.

As it turns out I needed a new printer so I bought a 32GB (they only had 16/32 in stock) from one of the chain stores along with the printer.

Ended up deciding I wanted GPS which the Wi-Fi model lacked, so I went to 先達 (a electronics mall in Mong Kok) to get a 64GB/4G import. Sold my (still shrink-wrapped) 32GB for what I paid for it. Due to the wide availability of the new iPad they haven't been able to mark them up as much as they did for the iPad 2, so they're selling new iPads for just HKD200 or so more than Apple's MSRP.

Basically these are your options if you want an iPad in Hong Kong:

-Apple Store ifc mall (sells iPad at MSRP, no additional purchases required, but you might be in for a long wait if the reservation system doesn't 'choose' you)

-Chain electronics stores, eg Fortress/Broadway (sells iPad at MSRP, usually at least HKD1500 additional purchase required, but the specific model you want might not be in stock)

-Apple Authorized Resellers (sells iPad at MSRP, additional purchase(s) required [the store will tell you what you need to buy to 'qualify'], but the specific model you want might not be in stock)

-先達 (Sin Tat)(sells iPad with a slight markup, no additional purchases required, pretty much guaranteed to have every model in stock including imported 4G models)

The only option if you want a Wi-Fi + 4G model is the last one (先達). There's a HKD800~1000 markup from iPad 2 3G pricing, but that's to be expected since it is the only way of getting a 4G model here as of right now.

 

[roanmartigan]

OP, why the fuss though? Why not just get one through the online reservation system? You'll get it faster and you can check the unit for defects at the store.

I live in China, but since my company has an office in HK, I was hoping to buy it online, have it delivered to our office in HK, and then next time I go there or a coworker comes to the mainland I will get the device.

But my question really is: why is HK treated any differently compared to the rest of the world ? If there is no supply problem in the rest of the world, then certainly there cannot be one in HK which is so close to the Foxconn factories and does not have that many people in the first place.

Or - Apple is expecting such a tsunami of purchases from the mainland that they are trying to get ready for the moment they unleash the new iPad onshore. Sanlitun Apple Store, expect a riot.

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Unfortunately, these also require people to purchase at least HKD1500 (USD200) of other items before you're 'allowed' to buy one from them. Same story with the 'authorized resellers'- you need to spend a decent sum of money on accessories and the like before they'll sell an iPad to you. I'm guessing they aren't earning much with the iPad itself so to turn a profit they need to sell their overpriced accessories.

Obviously these are tying sales which would be illegal in the US or Europe under competition law. But Hong Kong is Hong Kong...

 

[808?]

The scalpers bulk buying for China ruined it for people living in Hong Kong.

Same issues with the iPhone 4 & 4S.

 

[roanmartigan]

The scalpers bulk buying for China ruined it for people living in Hong Kong.

Same issues with the iPhone 4 & 4S.

That might be true. Actually I have realised that the supply is so good that the device is widely available on taobao (Chinese ebay) and competition between scalpers is fierce so the prices are basically same as HK prices (at a conversion rate of 1HKD=1RMB which is not great, but at least for this price you can get the device right away and do not run the risk to get caught by Chinese customs). Pretty good deal in my opinion. Ah, the benefits of competition

 

[TheMacBookPro]

I live in China, but since my company has an office in HK, I was hoping to buy it online, have it delivered to our office in HK, and then next time I go there or a coworker comes to the mainland I will get the device.

But my question really is: why is HK treated any differently compared to the rest of the world ? If there is no supply problem in the rest of the world, then certainly there cannot be one in HK which is so close to the Foxconn factories and does not have that many people in the first place.

They aren't having any supply issues- they're just trying (but not exactly successfully) to stop scalpers.

Obviously these are tying sales which would be illegal in the US or Europe under competition law. But Hong Kong is Hong Kong...

Unfortunately, this seems to be the only way that they can stop scalpers as well, otherwise the authorized resellers would be out of stock every day an hour after opening.

That might be true. Actually I have realised that the supply is so good that the device is widely available on taobao (Chinese ebay) and competition between scalpers is fierce so the prices are basically same as HK prices (at a conversion rate of 1HKD=1RMB which is not great, but at least for this price you can get the device right away and do not run the risk to get caught by Chinese customs). Pretty good deal in my opinion. Ah, the benefits of competition

That's pretty expensive at the current exchange rate. Why not just go to 先達, pay the extra HKD200 or so (16GB- 4100, 32GB- 4900, 64GB- 5800) and get it immediately without even having to wait for shippin?

 

[whtrbt7]

Yeah, Hong Kong is pretty messed up due to its SAR status and its proximity to Shenzhen and mainland China. The big thing this year was the deterrence of Chinese scalpers because Apple did not want people to hoard iPads to sell in mainland china. This then spawned the government ID scheme on the online HK Apple store. In 2010 and 2011, there were huge problems with supply to Hong Kong Authorized Resellers due to Apple's internal control to stop scalpers of Apple products. This caused a lot of resellers to only get 1-10 units on a monthly basis (this is from what I know looking at the storeroom of an Authorized Apple Reseller). Border control between mainland china and Hong Kong also became a stopping point for iPad scalpers that got heavily taxed on such products going into mainland china but what should have been done was a confiscation of goods.

The situation in China has been pretty insane due to Proview China as well as various population control tactics that need to be taken in such a heavily populated country. Even worse is the social attitude in mainland China which promotes chaos. It's like that joke: "What's a chinese queue look like? A triangle." Mainlanders are generally pushy and have a dog eat dog / survival of the fittest mentality. Hong Kong is treated specially also because of all of the controls from mainland China. Overall relations between Apple and mainland China is stressed right now which is why the Hong Kong Apple Store as well as Hong Kong Authorized Resellers have a tough time getting supply.

Regarding the policy of purchasing lots of accessories from the Authorized Resellers, they make a razor thin margin on all the official Apple products. if you were the business owner, you would see this thin margin and go: "Why would I even bother selling Apple products?" The only way to get this done would be to purchase accessories which they source themselves at much cheaper prices from Taiwan. If these resellers aren't earning enough, they'll force you to buy the accessories before you can buy an iPad just to cover costs. You can however get iPads and iPhone from Sintat like the others mentioned but that's a pretty seedy place. I've heard of lots of things happening to foreigners in Mong Kok. I'm pretty savvy but some poor tourists just don't have any sense. I do have a supplier in Wan Chai however that will have about a HKD$500 premium but they can get real deal units that are normally imported from different locations. They only sell to insiders but if you're spending money with them, they'll sometimes show you their goods on the side. They also sell lots of funky KIRF stuff which I love to browse just because there's something very counter-culture about them.

 

[Koziakauzu]

Just a correction, I picked up an iPad from Broadway last week, you need to purchase hkd600 worth of overpriced ipad accessories"only".
The hkd1500 thing only applies to Fortress.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

$600 is pretty easy to reach... since their accessories are so damn overpriced. A two-pack of screen protectors for $400? No thank you.

Walk into Sin Tat looking like you know what you're doing, give the guy a price (the price you should expect to pay is available on price.com.hk ) and if they try to rip you off go to the next stall over.