Apple launched the iPhone in China, but the response has been tepid. When the iPhone launched in the U.S. customers lined up around the block to get them. But not the Chinese. They did, however, turn up in droves for the official launch party in Beijing. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Hundreds of people braved cold and rain to attend a Friday night party thrown by China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the state-owned carrier selling the iPhone, at a Beijing shopping center. Still, the crowd seemed subdued compared with the thousands who turned up at stores when the iPhone was introduced in markets such as the U.S. and Japan, where it quickly sold out in many locations. As of Sunday night, stores around Beijing still had the iPhone in stock.
Apple and China Unicom, which is the only authorized Chinese carrier selling the iPhone, declined to disclose sales figures.
The iPhone's performance in China, where the 710 million mobile-phone subscribers are the most in any nation, is potentially important for Apple, which has a relatively meager presence in the fast-growing market.
Analysts have said that the Unicom iPhone's debut in China faces several challenges. Many potential customers have already bought iPhones from unauthorized sellers or brought in the phone from Hong Kong or other countries, putting an estimated two million iPhones already in use in China, according to research firm BDA China Ltd.
The iPhone is quite expensive in China, costing between $730 to $1,020. That is good news for Apple's competitors who are offering phones for less than that.
The other big problem that Apple has in China is that the Wi-Fi access to the Internet has been disabled on the phones to comply with the Chinese government's demands.
