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Apple finally breaks China
As Apple launches its iPhone on China Mobile – giving it access to 763 million subscribers – investors are eager to see to what extent this move will boost sales. It's easy to see why China is an obvious target for Apple; with 618 million Chinese people spending four hours per day on the internet per day, there's loads of potential customers in need of smartphones.
Tech Expert Stuart Miles, Editor of Picket-Lint, thinks this was the right thing to do: "I think it’s a really good move for Apple. They’ve got the largest mobile operator in China that’s expected to earn around one million handsets a month; if you’re Apple, you’re going to like that."
And it’s looking promising; reservations for iPhones had already hit 1.3 million on Wednesday, according to a China Mobile spokeswoman. During the 2014 fiscal year China Mobile's iPhone sales are expected to reach 12 million.
But Apple faces stiff competition competition from market-leader Samsung Electronics and local rivals Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo and Yulong. Samsung had a 21 percent share of China's smartphone market in the third quarter of 2013, with Apple trailing in fifth place with just 6 percent, according to research firm Canalys.
At USD 870, Apple’s iPhone 5s doesn’t come cheap. In comparison, an Android-based phone from local startup Xiaomi costs about USD 327. But Stuart reckons this won’t be a problem for Apple.
He says: "I think Apple always set themselves as a premium brand and they’ll try and keep that momentum going, so I’m not surprised about the price."
"In terms of China Mobile, Apple is coming in late to the game but in the States when iPhone used to have AT&T as an exclusive partner and then moved into Verizon, that boosted sales, and I would expect the same to happen here."
02:03 minutes
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