Although the reception to the iPhone going on sale in China was warm, the event does not seem to have engendered the sort of sellout reception that a new model iPhone introduction does in most markets.

There were hundreds of people in attendance at an unveiling party hosted by by China Unicom, the only current seller of the iPhone in China. That reception, however, seemed distinctly lukewarm when compared to the introduction of the iPhone in other markets or even to the introduction of a new iPhone model in the United States. Given the gigantic size of the Chinese cell phone marketplace, surely the largest in the world, this lack of enthusiasm could be seen as surprising.

Neither Apple nor China Unicom are saying how many iPhones were sold during the first few days of availability in China, according to a Wall Street Journal story. It is known, however, that there are 710 million mobile phone users in China, each of which can be seen as a potential iPhone user. That makes the Chinese market important to the continued growth of Apple’s smartphone platform. If the iPhone does not take off in China, Apple may have a harder time hitting their sales numbers in 2010.

One likely problem is that Apple is competing with themselves in China. It is estimated that there are already a couple of million iPhones in use in China, all of which were purchased on the black or gray markets, unlocked, jailbroken, and brought in from Hong Kong or elsewhere. It is possible, therefore, that the Chinese citizens that wanted an iPhone the most already have one.

There is also the fact that the “official” Chinese iPhone does not have Wi-Fi, a difference negotiated by the Chinese government to help them control Web access inside China. Perhaps consumers in China are not happy with paying high prices for a hamstrung iPhone, missing one important capability that their black market counterparts offer. It will be interesting to see if sales pick up now that the official version of the phone is readily available, or if they remain flat. Apple, and financial analysts, have been counting on strong sales in China and a disappointing record there might change some of the rosy market projections for the Cupertino company.

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Entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 1:16 pm under International, Internet, iPhone.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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