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With all the what, where and when surrounding the iPhone’s official arrival in China now out of the way, lacklustre consumer reaction would suggest all the related rumour and fanfare was completely overblown and unnecessary.
Not nearly as popular as this photo might suggest. Image: myuibe/Flickr.
Specifically, while a special retail launch event held on Friday night saw around a hundred expectant Apple fans eager to welcome the iconic touch-screen handset, the smartphone’s reception was considerably tame when compared to the thousands of buyers that have turned out to meet it in other territories.
By bringing its iPhone to the Chinese market through telecommunications giant China Unicom, Cupertino-based gadget maker Apple is clearly hoping to tap into the 700 million handset users spread across the world’s biggest mobile phone market.
In terms of expectation, China Unicom has indicated that its three-year carriage deal with Apple should result in handset sales of around five million.
However, a recent Sina online poll of 70,000 consumers in China revealed that only 11.7 percent were weighing up an iPhone purchase, while a whopping 90 percent thought the smartphone lay beyond their means.
Ars Technica reports that the average selling price of smartphone devices in China is around 2,250 Chinese yuan (approx. $330 USD), while China Unicom is offering the iPhone (without a contract) for between 6,000 CNY ($878 USD) and 8,000 CNY ($1,170 USD).
Subsequent traction might also be affected somewhat by the estimated two million iPhone handsets that have been smuggled into China since the popular smartphone first launched back in 2007 (for a price ranging between 3,700 CNY/$540 USD and 5,700 CNY/$835 USD).
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