“Earlier today I posted an item from Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar asserting that sales of the Apple iPhone in China have have been disappointing,” Eric Savitz blogs for Barron’s. “Here’s the original text of the relevant portion of the post:”
Is Apple (AAPL) running into trouble in China?
Ashok Kumar, analyst with Northeast Securities, asserted in a brief research note this morning that the much-ballyhooed deal for sale of iPhones through China Unicom (CHU) so far has been something of a dud.
“Sales of iPhone through China Unicom, to state it mildly, have been disappointing,” he writes. “Volumes since launch have run at a fraction of stated goals.”
Kumar isn’t offering any hard numbers, and Apple hasn’t yet, either. Meanwhile, Kumar remains positive on Apple’s shares. Apple will report earnings a week from today.
Savitz reports, “But here’s the thing. An Apple spokewoman notes that sales at China Unicom haven’t actually started yet. Which would make it hard for them to be disappointing.”
In an update, Savitz reports, that Kumar “notes that the phone had been available for pre-sale since the beginning of the month, and that is where he concludes the phone is so far disappointing.”
Full article here.
Please don’t even report on these douchebags anymore.
He got his 15 minutes of fame.
It’s that intern at Dilbert’s (beleaguered) company again!
What a w a n k e r!
> “Sales of iPhone through China Unicom, to state it mildly, have been disappointing,” he writes. “Volumes since launch have run at a fraction of stated goals.”
> In an update, Savitz reports, that Kumar “notes that the phone had been available for pre-sale since the beginning of the month, and that is where he concludes the phone is so far disappointing.”
How can you have “volumes” on a pre-sale? This guy obviously didn’t (before) and doesn’t now have a clue.
It’s kinda like the Obama Nobel Prize thingy. A tad premature.
I fully expect sales of at least a billion, anything less in a country of that size is poor.
Northeast Securities is a bucket shop. Pump and dump firm based in NY and FL (that there says it all).
And here I thought Ashok Kumar was that famous Bollywood actor…
“What? Reality? Pfft, don’t pester me with details like that, I’m being an Analyst here.”
There goes another 10 millions for Kumar from Microsoft…
The difference is that at least it is POSSIBLE that Apple’s might end up a disappointment
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The guy is presenting (as a lames of all possible excuses) an argument that he was actually talking about “pre-orders”, which supposedly were supposed to bring in some 300,000 customers, and instead they brought in a few thousand.
Anyone who knows anything about Chinese consumer will know that there is no chance in hell he/she would ever consider giving someone his/her money and not get ANYTHING in return. While Americans have no problem with paying for something upfront and waiting for it (for weeks, no less), without fear of being swindled. This just don’t fly in China (or most of the developing world, for that matter).
Even if Mr. Kumar actually meant that (and I doubt), his “research” is still worthless.
is that FUD i smell?
I’m very disappointed.
his next article is about Apple aborting the tablet because of disappointing sales
Quote from Bugs Bunny, “What a Marron!”
I was in Beijing last week and I was amazed at the number iPhones being used with local Sim cards. Plus the knock offs were for people who wish they could have an iphone but can’t afford it.
iPhone sales in China will do just fine thank you very much.
All iPhone sales (~3,000,000) in China, to date, have been hijacked and sold for about 25% more than they will be once shipments begin.
True journalism is dead. It’s all about selling ad time/space now. These people should be ashamed.
iPhone in China will be fine when the consumers can get it in their hands and physically see a demo (either by the store guy or their friends).It’s a cultural thing. They are very skeptical of everything, having been scammed (and still scammed) for years by foreigners, and by themselves!
Similiarreports are already coming out over Apple’s dissapointing iPhone sales for the pre-Christmas buying season for 2010. To date no sales have been made…………………………
Pre-order, in China, are u nuts, if you buy something you don’t like you can’t returnt it easily. I bought an Ericsson phone while back and one hour later couldn’t return it, had to sell it to my friend (I needed full address fields and the phone didn’t have it).
I know bunch of people who want to buy the China iPhone, they’re just waiting to get a real one that don’t need to be jailbroken everytime Apple updates it. Everybody I show my EU iPhone with all the apps, want to buy it, but when they hear how difficult (and expensive) it is to own one, they give up.
Where is the iPhone anyway? Is Unicom still trying to get their network ready, if there is no WiFi it means lot of 3G traffic.
So it’s okay to mock analysts who make predictions about sales before products are released sometimes, but not others?
please don’t publish these non-stories.