iPhone is not so hot in China

8 Nov
2009

The official launch of Apple’s iPhone in China has been disappointing at best for mobile operator China Unicom. Unicom unveiled Apple’s iconic handset in Beijing on October 30, but there were only few hundred people to snap up the iPhone.

Unicom said last week that it had sold 5,000 units in the first weekend, but there is no more information available after that.

Bertram Lai, a Hong Kong-based analyst with CIMB-GK Securities said:

The market was obviously expecting more, based on what happened with the debut of iPhone.The introduction of a more expensive, less usable iPhone with fewer functions is not going to be very exciting for the market.

Unicom, the country’s second-largest mobile operator by subscribers, is offering a number of contract deals that bring the price of the iPhone down — but it still costs more than 500 dollars, out of range for most consumers.

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iPhone’s WiFi functions have been disabled in order to comply with Chinese government regulations.

Unicom has high hopes for iPhone, and has said it wants to sell five million handsets over three years to boost its revenue per user, but analysts are against their statement.

Lai said:

In terms of functionality, you have (instant messaging system) QQ on the OPhone and access to the China Mobile app store, which has 100,000 applications customised for Chinese users.I think that’s a very strong competitive force against the iPhone.

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