“China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., which started offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone in China last week, aims to increase the number of its third-generation mobile users by more than 1 million a month, Chairman Chang Xiaobing said Tuesday,” Lorraine Luk reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The company launched 3G services in China Oct. 1 and had more than 1 million subscribers to the mobile technology standard at the end of that month, Mr. Chang said.”
“He said China Unicom has signed up more than 5,000 iPhone users in China since it launched the phone there Friday and it expects the Apple phone to boost its average revenue per user,” Luk reports. “The company is the only seller of the iPhone in China at the moment, though China Mobile Ltd. has said it is in talks with Apple.”
Luk reports, “Analysts say China Unicom’s high pricing of the iPhone will limit demand for the product. China Unicom has been selling the 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS for 6,999 Chinese yuan ($1,024) without a service contract, higher than the around $800 consumers pay for the same product in Hong Kong, which has different wireless carriers than on the mainland.”
Full article here.
oh… you mean alarmist analysts just mad another mountain out of a moehill?
You just need an ‘e’ and an ‘l’ to make sense of the first comment.
ron: so I’m not the most accurate typist in the world….
For the perfectionists:
oh… you mean alarmist analysts just made another mountain out of a molehill?
@ron
Thanx fore the typp.
The launch was a disaster. They only sold 5000 units.
Unicom had to unload their 1st order of crippled phones…only natural that after news that the WiFi ban was lifted in China people would wait till the next (promised) shipment of WiFi enabled iPhones hit the market…
What’s not clear is: Why on earth would Unicom purchase this initial crippled load when they must have known or had wind that the ban was about to be lifted?
Like with Chinese food, the prep work should take time, but the cooking is then trés FAST.
I love how these stories point out how expensive the 32GB 3GS is, while never mentioning the entry-level 8GB 3G.
I can tell you all that 7000 Chinese yuan is a LOT of money for the average person in China, the price is close to insanity if Apple want’s to sell the phone to the masses, but I guess it was meant for the rich people only in China to begin with. There are quite a few of them here though so Apple can expect decent sales in the future.
@ron
give pickel fingers a break