China Give Apple's (AAPL) iPhone a Lukewarm Reception
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Market darling Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) apparently can do wrong, as the company receives a less than warm welcoming with the debut of the iPhone in China, the world's largest cell phone market.
China Unicom (NYSE: CHU), the iPhone service provider in China, threw a launch party attended by hundreds of people a Beijing shopping center Friday where consumers could come and experience the iPhone first hand. While at the Beijing Apple store, the only company owned store in China, the stacks of the new product sat untouched as people do not seem willing to pay the hefty price tag of $730 to $1,020.
One issue Apple is having in China is the lack of "Wi-Fi" internet capability with the phones due to China government laws.
Another obstacle standing in Apple's way is that gray market iPhones have been spreading through China for awhile. The company estimates that 2 million units were in use before the launch on Friday.
Gray Market dealers are selling phones purchased outside of the country for around $440 to $840, allowing consumers to have another option for obtaining the phone. While the gray market phones will not have the quality control form Apple, they will attract consumers looking for a better deal.
With an inferior product to those that sold out quickly after launch in countries like the U.S. and Japan, Apple will have difficulty obtaining a successful market share similar to other areas.
Apple is trading up in the pre-market hours at 189.93, up 0.76 percent.
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Apple's Waterloo
Beltway Greg on Nov 2, 2009 10:45 AMI wouldn't have affixed my name to this piece of soon-to-be-proven wrong piece of drivel either. My favorite comment about Apple comes from Douglas A. McIntyre who called Apple's entry into China a potential Waterloo. "Untouched product?" Seriously what were the sales figures? Keep selling suckers. PALM and RIMM are really tearing the roof off of the dump aren't they. Looks like they're both suffering from some U2 induced vertigo or maybe that comes from Apple?