“According to Chinese language publication Sina Tech, the gold iPhone 5s appears to be one the most popular models in the country’s capital city, with first day stock running out at the Sanlitun, Xidan Joy City, and Wangfujing Apple Stores just two hours after reservations went live on Tuesday, local Beijing time,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider. “Apple’s pick-up reservation system was first instituted with the iPhone 4S to control crowds and dissuade gray market sales of newly launched products.”
Read more in the full article here.
Joe White reports for AppAdvice, “Only the 16GB ‘space gray’ unlocked iPhone 5s remains for reservation at both Beijing and Hong Kong Apple Retail Stores. In Beijing, the gold iPhone 5s handset entirely sold out at the Sanlitun, Xidan Joy City, and Wangfujing Apple Stores just two hours after Apple’s aforementioned reservation system went live, the Chinese-language publication Sina Tech explains.”
“Apple’s iPhone 5c, however, hasn’t been so big a hit in China,” White reports. “Despite early analysis indicating that a ‘low-cost’ iPhone could do well in the country, it seems that the not-so-low cost of the iPhone 5c has encouraged Chinese customers to spend a little extra on the high-end iPhone 5s, instead.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As predicted:
It seems to me that Apple is using the iPhone 5c as a tool to push buyers to the 5s (well, at least those buyers who can grasp a simple value equation). Once Apple gets the customer to the websites or into the stores and the prospective buyer can see and/or hold both phones and learn that they’re only separated by a mere $100, my guess is that Apple figures they’ll have plenty of upsales occurring. Upsales that will boost Apple’s iPhone margins nicely. Oh, BTW, Apple’s going to sell a boatload of both models (and millions of 4S units too)! Are you listening, margin-loving Wall Street? – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, September 10, 2013
I tried to preorder mind gold but failed .
Finger print security of the iPhone 5S files are more important in China than even in the USA with it’s NSA file peepers!
What I meant to say is . . .
[Fingerprint] security of the iPhone 5S files [is] more important in China than even in the USA with [its] NSA file peepers!”
Why are they doing 5S preorders in China but not in America? Don’t forget your roots, Cupertino!
they do pe order in chine to hale prevent all the grey market purchases there – not an issue here…
http://www.todaysiphone.com/2012/11/how-apple-tries-to-stop-grey-marketeers-from-buying-out-iphone-stock-in-shenzhen/
And it’s not an official pre-order. It’s a reservation system, similar to a Genius Bar apt. To let actual customers buy the amazing tech, not a bunch of re-sellersand the like.
Why can’t I do that here?
I’m sure the thought has crossed the minds of Apple execs to cut back on the 5C production since Apple didn’t release any re-order figures on the 5C. Apple will wait for sells figures over the weekend to see just by how much to scale back the 5C.
It’s not all bad for the 5C especially if the 5S kicks ass as it looks as it will and all other manf are playing catch up to the 5S. Apple will have to endure 5C low sells for a year until the next product cycle.
It’s clear the 5C overlaps the 5S in price too greatly that people will just go to the 5S. Apple will be strategizing all year on what to introduce next September.
For those where the device is a status symbol (and let’s face it, most of the current iPhone market in China falls into this group), gold 5S is the only option; 5C is obviously not top-of-the-line, and the white / grey variants of 5S look way too much like the old 5, so nobody would be able to tell whether you have the 5 (old device) or the 5S (newest, latest, greatest…).
Apple made a significant error in their choice of 5c colours if they wanted it to really succeed in China.
In Chinese culture red and gold are the most important colours, representing luck and beauty. And yet there’s no red 5c, the closest is pink.
This is true. Even Buick sells well against Mercedes in China when it is configured to look like a luxury item. Apple isn’t trying to create sales of iPhone 5c. They’re just pushing people to spend the extra $100 to get the real deal. If they were serious there would be a black iPhone 5c for all markets, and the red. Not sure how you manage a real upscale look with gold-colored plastic.
The missing piece of information, however, is how many of each phone did they begin with? Just because a model sells out does not mean it has sold more than a model that has not, or is substantially more popular. My guess is the 5S is popular, but the 5C may be as well. We will have to await next Monday’s sales results to try and piece it together.
“MacDailyNews Take: As predicted:
It seems to me that Apple is using the iPhone 5c as a tool to push buyers to the 5s (well, at least those buyers who can grasp a simple value equation).”
A quick way for a firm to loose money if not go out of business is to spend time and resources on two new products of almost equal costs just to have the slightly lower cost item push sells of the more expensive item.
Thanks Steve jack
Yes but it great that the lower priced phone is not canablising the sales of the high priced phone.
Are you watching wall st.
Everyone knows that Apple only had a few thousand iPhone 5c units in stock and this sellout is merely an artificial way to make headlines to fool the world that Apple is able to sell iPhones in China. It’s not fooling the pundits or the big Wall Street guys who are certain that Apple will be going out of business by next year if Apple doesn’t sell $50 iPhones to compete against the hundreds of money-losing Android vendors.
/s
Jeez, why are there so many greedy and clueless jackasses on Wall Street. I hope Peter Misek gets fired when iPhone 5c sales go through the roof. No such luck. He will hang around and make many more idiotic judgment calls about Apple’s business. An analyst should never draw conclusions about product sales before even one unit has been sold to the consumer. That’s just going too far.
The 5c is more of a casual consumer item. The type that would have no problem buying the 4 or 4s. It will sell great, but you won’t see people lining up for it. Those that want the latest and greatest from Apple will instead line up for the 5s.
It’s been about a week, so yeah I guess it’s all over for a product that only hit the stores, what, Friday?
Analyst: when you can’t get a job as a parking lot attendant.
I’ve said it before, the best job on the planet is a Apple ANALyst. You can be as dumb as a door knob and get paid really good for being one! lol
Obvious supply constraint.
In Asia cheaper is not always better. People trust more expensive brands more.
Cheaper is what China foists off on America to sell in Wal-Mart. The Chinese seek the best quality they can find because quality is frugal in the long run. Something Apple users have known for a long time.
Chinese are the most skillful in buying for value rather than any nation on earth. You have not seen how embedded in their mind to see a bargain when others do not see one. So you wonder about the inscrutable Chinese. They will but the iPhone 5s and sell at a profit the 5c.
Mac Daily News must be stupid if they think 5C is a tool to push ppl to 5S… 100 dollar is allot of money. For most people the price is the most important thing, for better or worse. Not what’s the best phone.