The iPhone just recently made its debut in China. Thanks to a three-year deal with China Unicom, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has finally managed to bring the iPhone to the world’s largest pool of mobile phone users. With hundreds of millions of wireless subscribers in China, Apple’s got to be raking in iPhone sales, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, the introduction of the iPhone is bringing in some serious revenue, but that money isn’t necessarily coming from iPhone sales. Turns out, the iPhone AppStore is a huge hit in China.
China Unicom reportedly sold just 5,000 iPhones during its first week of sales. China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiobing says he’s satisfied with that number, but in a country that boasts more wireless users than there are people in the US, 5,000 units is a really small number. The silver lining, though, is that the introduction of the Chinese iPhone opened the doors to the AppStore. iPhone users in China have so far generated $1 million in legit iPhone app revenue from the AppStore.
It all makes sense. China Unicom’s iPhone is currently crippled. Apple disabled the WiFi radio on Chinese iPhones to comply with China’s Golden Shield Project. Considering that gray-market iPhones with fully functional WiFi radios are readily available in China, it’s not surprising to hear that China Unicom’s iPhones aren’t blockbuster hits. The flip-side is that there are an estimated 2 million iPhones roaming across China, most of them coming through unofficial channels. All those iPhones are likely driving users to embrace the AppStore. China Unicom also hopes to have a WiFi-capable iPhone available by the end of the year, which could boost AppStore revenue even further.
Still, things may not be all rainbows and happy faces for Apple’s Chinese AppStore revenue. iPhone app piracy is a significant threat to Apple’s bottom line, and could come back to bite Apple. It’s unclear just how much of the $1 million in iPhone app sales came from users looking to download an app with the intention of pirating the software, but it would be interesting to see how China’s pirated app ecosystem compares to the legit AppStore market.
Konami has currently marked down the prices of all of their titles on the App Store until November, 30th 2009. ALL Konami titles are listed at $.99, and if you’ve been curious about any of their titles, now is the time to open up your virtual wallets and get to downloading. The titles that Konami currently have up on the App Store are:
It should be noted that all of these prices are only effective for only the US App Store, so for those of you not able to access the US App Store, I submit this commercial of Crazy Eddie to hopefully cheer you up on not being able to take advantage of this current price drop.
Just a quick follow-up here from something that broke in late September. The last we heard, South Korea’s telecommunications regulator gave the thumbs up to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and the iPhone… clearing the way for the iPhone 3GS to make its way to South Korean shores by the end of November. According to the Korea Communications Commission, the iPhone ‘can be launched at any time’.
Interestingly enough, both carriers have been surprisingly quiet on the issue. No confirmation that either carrier will or will not carry the device has come down the tube yet, so we’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled to KT Corp and SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) to see what kind of move they end up making.
If memory serves me right, we could end up seeing the iPhone in South Korea as early as November 28th (on KT). That’s the expected launch date I’ve heard before… But, we’ll see.
‘We will try to release the iPhone as soon as possible’ noted Yeom Woo-jong, spokesman for KT.
Belgium, one of the few countries in the world that sell the iPhone without a SIM lock, is now home to one of the most elaborate thefts of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) products ever recorded. A hole was cut in the ceiling of a warehouse owned by Ceva Logistics, a hole that was over the exact location where between 3,000 and 4,000 iPhones were being stored. While the IMEI numbers of the stolen iPhones can be blocked from working in Belgium, the thieves can just sell them in another country where such a ban would be useless. There are some disagreements as to whether the number of iPhones stolen is closer to 3,000 or 4,000, but both sources reporting on this story (De Standaard and Gazet van Antwerpen) claim that roughly 2 million EUR worth of goods was stolen.
If you’re a fan of shooing Nazis and Zombies, then this game might be what you’ve been waiting for. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies brings the consoles’ ever popular “Night of the Undead” map pack, where you and your teammates work together to defend a point from wave after wave of Nazi Zombies, and brings it to the iPhone.
Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies features 2-player co-op over bluetooth, as well as 4-player co-op over Wi-Fi. Players can also create public or private online matches, so fight alongside strangers or your your best buds to fight off the zombie invasion. Controls are all on-screen and offer auto-targeting of the shooting reticule, but players can also zoom in and shoot from a more accurate perspective.
Activision also notes that Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies will feature new downloadable content in the future which will keep you Nazi Zombie murdering SOBs coming back for more! Jawohl!
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is looking to hire a “Game/Media Software Engineer” with “3-4 years of video game development experience” that has “shipped at least one AAA title” according to a job listing discovered by AppleInsider. Is this a sign that Apple is looking at becoming a first party developer? Maybe, maybe not. In all likelihood the fruity west coast company is simple looking to bundle a decent game with their device so customers will be more willing to check out the App Store for more titles. That or the company is looking for someone who understands that game development is all about providing an immersive experience for the user and people who possess that talent can use that ability to create a richer user interface. Whatever the answer is, we’ll find out soon enough. In a little over 7 months the new iPhone is coming!
Full text from the job listing below:
The interactive media group is looking for a skilled software engineer who wants to work as part of a small highly motivated team to work on interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The position on the team is to help design and implement interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The position also requires a creative thinker who can contribute and comment on the design process as well as being flexible enough to aid in all aspects of production such as asset management and able to work to a deadline.
Looking for skilled engineer with the following background:
Strong C / C++ / Objective-C / iPhone background preferred
3-4 years of video game development experience, shipped at least one AAA title
Passionate gamer
Skills in audio systems, graphics pipeline, and network programming a plus
In today’s world, it seems a lot of smartphone users tend to rely on their own entertainment to get through air travel. Movies, TV shows, even games can keep us busy for a good chunk of our flight. Nippon Airways recently announced they will be making some changes to their New York City to Tokyo flights, one of which is the addition of allowing passengers to connect their iPhone / iPod to their individual LCD screen to display videos and pictures. Best of all, the iPhone / iPod connectors also charge your device while it’s being used.
You would think this kind of service would only be available to first-class fliers, but thankfully, Nippon Airways is offering the service to all of their passengers. I definitely see the benefit for offering this service since I for one love to watch some TV shows or movies that I’ve got ready for travel, but having the video right in front of you instead of your lap can make the experience that much better. All I ask is that no one bugs me for a spare earbud to watch an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm along with me. I likes to hear my Larry David with both ears, thank you very much.
Now… if I could only find a reason to fly to Japan…
There’s no denying the almost magical draw of the iPhone and the world of good it’s done for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s bottom line. A new report from Gartner today backs up that notion with data that has the Apple iPhone accounting for 17.1% of global smartphone sales in Q3 2009. That figure puts Apple in the No. 3 spot, behind Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Research In Motion (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)), as far as global smartphone market share.
Apple shipped some 7 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2009. The continued success of smartphones like the iPhone is fueled by a disproportionate growth in the mobile phone market that has the smartphone segment growing 12.8% year-on-year while the overall mobile phone segment languished with just 0.1% year-over-year growth.
It’s clear that smartphones are here to stay and will soon become the “norm” in the mobile space. Can Apple sustain its third-place position in the face of hot new smartphones running the Android operating system? It’s going to be a tough battle, and we can’t wait to watch it all unfold.
Law.com posted something that probably very few IntoMobile readers care about, but I’ll share it none the less:
In Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s big patent showdown with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) over iPhone technology, it will be Alston & Bird versus Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Wilmer’s co-managing partner Bill Lee made an appearance for Apple on Tuesday in a stipulation filed in Delaware federal district court.
There may be no lawyer in America more familiar with the technology behind smart phones than Lee. For years, he represented Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM) in its battles with Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) over phone patents. That litigation ended in April when Qualcomm agreed to pay Broadcom $891 million.
When Nokia filed its suit alleging infringement of ten patents, we noted the conspicuous absence of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges. The firm had been inseparable from Nokia through its global war against Qualcomm, which ended on the steps of Delaware Chancery Court last year. As we reported, Alston & Bird has done quite a bit of litigating for Nokia as well.
The same is true of Wilmer for Apple, though this appears to be the highest-profile case Bill Lee & Co. have taken on for Apple. According to the stipulation both parties agreed to, Apple has until December 14 to respond to Nokia’s complaint. Some observers are expecting that answer will include a countersuit.
For those who are not aware of what’s going on, Nokia sued Apple for violating 10 wireless patents. Nilay Patel from Engadget did a fantastic job at covering the details of the case, it’s consequences, and likely results. Expect to be reading about Apple vs. Nokia for at least a year, probably two. Things like this never end as fast as you’d like them to, and the results are never what you expect. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. You’ll keep on buying the latest iPhones or Nokia smartphones.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) makes close to 4 out of every 10 handsets sold on the planet and in Q3 2009 the Finnish firm made $1.1 in operating profit on the sale of 108.5 million units. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) sold “only” 7.4 million iPhones, yet they made $1.6 billion in profit. This is the first time in the history of mobile telecommunications that someone has made more money than Nokia on mobile phones. These figures were provided by Alex Spektor, Analyst at Strategy Analytics. His colleague Neil Mawston, Director of Wireless Device Strategies, had this piece of advice to offer:
“Nokia’s profit margin for its handset division has been shrinking during the 2009 global economic downturn. Strategy Analytics believes that the United States, where Nokia now trails Apple in marketshare, is the key to Nokia’s recovery in 2010. A successful fight on Apple’s high-profit home turf can simultaneously help to revitalize Nokia’s margins and to put a check on Apple’s surging growth.”
I’m not really surprised, and you should not be either. Just about every other market operates the same way. Porsche is the world’s most profitable auto maker, but they don’t sell nearly the amount of cars that Ford does. Porsche also doesn’t make a model that sells for $12,000, yet Ford has such a model, and plenty of them too. Ford’s highest end product, the Ford GT, is also pile of poop compared to anything the Germans have to offer. Different companies make different products for different people. Apple makes the best smartphone on the planet (my opinion, not universally shared, don’t complain, I don’t care) because the people working in the handset division concentrate on high end devices. Nokia is a huge company, but how many people do you think work on the 20 EUR devices that go to the emerging economies around the world, and the 100 EUR devices that go to people who are not that well off in West European countries, and how many people are left to work on the N97, N900, and other high end models?
Can Nokia make the best smartphone or are they in an environment where it simply isn’t possible?
The iPhone just recently made its debut in China. Thanks to a three-year deal with China Unicom, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has finally managed to bring the iPhone to the world’s largest pool of mobile phone users. With hundreds of millions of wireless subscribers in China, Apple’s got to be raking in iPhone sales, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, the introduction of the iPhone is bringing in some serious revenue, but that money isn’t necessarily coming from iPhone sales. Turns out, the iPhone AppStore is a huge hit in China.
Just a quick follow-up here from something that broke in late September. The 
