iPhone Sells Measly 5,000 in China

[Marcus Yam]

Was it too little, too late for the iPhone in China?

iPhone Sells Measly 5,000 in China : Read more

 

[pbrigido]

Considering the wages they work for, I can't say I am surprised.

 

[ominous prime]

Can't say I'm surprised. The demand for iphones just isn't there. And nor is the money to pay for them by a vast majority of the Chinese populace.

 

[tester24]

I didn't doubt this either especially with so many cheaper knockoffs. That and as mentioned above about the wages. But you think that someone could get it for a better price, like when things mysteriously fall off the back of a truck.

 

[susan33]

If they can sell 5000 *PER DAY*... that's 1.8 MILLION phones in 1 year.

And remember... the price of the phone is more than 4 TIMES the price as the USA iPhone. So that's like 20,000 phones per day.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

^ They're actually charging almost twice the amount as well. I read an article that some companies were charging $900 USD for an iphone...what a rip off

 

[yang]

Being born in china and frequent travels to shanghai, I can say that there are much more selection of phones than north america where there is only iphone and crap phones. that means we have more options to choose from (much of which are not crippled). Not to mention most of those phones cost significantly less than the price apple is charging them

 

[bin1127]

iPhone also bombed in india. Not everyone in the world is dying for an iphone; just the selection-starved americans.

 

[tayb]

China has been selling cheap knock off iPhones for several years now. Why would anyone expect Chinese people to spend the equivalent of $900 for the "real thing."

 

[obsidian86]

where are the most phones made? in china ,why would you buy a new phone when you assemble one every hour at work

 

[jacobdrj]

Therefore, all carriers should be forced into the EU system of SIM cards?

 

[mqz4]

I second yang and bin1127, phones in the US do suck!! Having an unlocked phone is a privilege in the US, in India and China it is a norm. I have this MetroPCS Nokia phone lying around, really wish I could use it with another network.

 

[macelo]

Umm.... the phones they have in China are much better than the ones here. So more competition for iphone, and less need for a smart phone since most people there already have one.

 

[Honis]

Guys, the iPhone isn't that popular outside of Apple's usual domain:
Summery of Reasons:
Require 2 thumbs for typing.
Monthly plans are not competitive.
Requires a Computer for syncing.
Unfashionable design.

In the US (and Europe?) we aren't getting cutting edge devices by any means. Korea, Japan, and China are making and using phones with 5 MP cameras, TV tuners, touch screens, 3G, GPS, WiFi, etc. They have had most of these features in phones for more than 5 years now almost standard!

The worlds cell phone market is completely different and I think the only reason the US (and Europe?) puts up with the current system is because we don't know any better.

I filtered out the complaints that were fixed with the 3GS:
http/www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/why-the-iphone/

 

[tester24]

[citation][nom]mqz4[/nom]I second yang and bin1127, phones in the US do suck!! Having an unlocked phone is a privilege in the US, in India and China it is a norm. I have this MetroPCS Nokia phone lying around, really wish I could use it with another network.[/citation]

And supposedly this helps competition. Bullshit, I wish they would do away with this whole exclusive phone deals. It would make the carriers compete on building better networks. But like most things like this you don't hear much of it in the news anymore.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

[citation][nom]tester24[/nom]And supposedly this helps competition. Bullshit, I wish they would do away with this whole exclusive phone deals. It would make the carriers compete on building better networks. But like most things like this you don't hear much of it in the news anymore.[/citation]

i am in india these days (no , i was born here) and i would never wanna have only one provider with my handsets . the regulation has introduced another great feature : if i change cellular network providers , i dont have to change my number . no more texting friends for a number change .

 

[endrewsmith]

It doesn't surprise me at all. They can get the identical knock off at fraction of the real iphone price.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]endrewsmith[/nom]It doesn't surprise me at all. They can get the identical knock off at fraction of the real iphone price.[/citation]
They can also get black market real iPhones WITH WiFi MUCH cheaper then these legal ones.

 

[maestintaolius]

[citation][nom]Honis[/nom]Guys, the iPhone isn't that popular outside of Apple's usual domain:Summery of Reasons:Require 2 thumbs for typing.Monthly plans are not competitive.Requires a Computer for syncing.Unfashionable design.In the US (and Europe?) we aren't getting cutting edge devices by any means. Korea, Japan, and China are making and using phones with 5 MP cameras, TV tuners, touch screens, 3G, GPS, WiFi, etc. They have had most of these features in phones for more than 5 years now almost standard!The worlds cell phone market is completely different and I think the only reason the US (and Europe?) puts up with the current system is because we don't know any better.I filtered out the complaints that were fixed with the 3GS:http/www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/why-the-iphone/[/citation]

This is really the thing that I think most people miss. During my business travels I've noticed how many more high tech things are available in other countries, particularly S. Korea and Japan (and to a lesser extent the modern areas of China). In the US, phones and various other little QOL technologies tend to lag behind or are very slow to adopt (I'm thinking it has to do with the average American being fairly resistant to or suspicious of change). Some of the Japanese smart phones in particular are absolutely crazy in how many useful little features they have compared to US smart phones.

 

[Guest]

All Chinese brands are garbage. The only good phones in China are foreign brands and even then their technology just gets stolen and copied to produce a fake. The problem with the US is with the service providers and their rules and fees. As far as the Chinese being so poor it is a lie. Most Chinese save about 50% of their income, their are tons of rich people in China probably even more than in the US because the money is actually theirs and not borrowed. The Chinese need to drop this act that they are just this poor developing nation but in fact happen to have trillions in foreign reserves. People aren't fooled by this act anymore. Americans only has the outward appearance of being rich because it is all borrowed where as the Chinese in some places have the appearance of being poor but really have lots of money because they don't spend it on anything. I would rather buy a quality real product like an iphone than buy a fake which supports thieves and end up breaking all the time and having problems so that I end up having to buy 2 or 3 more and wasting a ton of time messing with it.