China Unicom: Only 5K new iPhone users since launch
By Will Park on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 3:11 PM PST In Apple, China Unicom, Devices, iPhone
China is the world’s largest mobile phone market. Even with crappy sales of iPhones, you’d think the sheer size of the Chinese market was enough to move some serious iPhone volume. And, you’d be wrong. The iPhone went live on China Unicom’s network last week, but has reportedly only sold a disappointing 5,000 iPhones to date. China Unicom lacks WiFi support in order to comply with China’s asinine censorship policies, which could be affecting sales – there’s a healthy iPhone grey market in China, where iPhones roam free with WiFi radios in tow.
China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiobing says that his company is satisfied with iPhone sales so far, and expects to see an additional 1 million 3G subscribers signing up every month as the carrier expands their 3G network. For China Unicom’s sake, we hope the boost in 3G subscribers translates to a boost in iPhone subscribers. They’ve got a ton of iPhones to sell.
[Via: Reuters]
I think we often forget that the Apple mystique is a pretty localized phenomenon.
This just shows that when there is
a) freedom to choose between devices and operators
b) no artificial Apple hype
c) no US bloggers who hype just the “American” phones: Apple, Blackberry, Palm, and constantly bash e.g. Nokia
d) fierce competion
e) people who make rationale decisions
f) people who are able to calculate the total cost of ownership
g) people who appreciate quality, battery life and functionality,
people prefer Nokia instead of iPhone. And that is why Nokia is the superior leader globally in luxury phones, smart phones, mid-range phones and cheap phones – in all categories.
Don’t ever make global judgements based on US consumer preference. For example, US consumers are the only ones in the whole world who think that they 300 hp and 3 ton truck to get a 6-pack from the local grocery.