Japan went crazy over the iPhone when it made its debut in summer last year, but China as another big Asian market for Apple seems to react differently. The iPhone officially launched in China today, offered by China Unicom, one the country’s three big cell phone carriers. But our friends over at major Chinese news portal 163.com are reporting [Google machine translation] that not too many people were actually queuing up to get one, at least in Beijing.
Here are some pictures from the Beijing Apple Store (taken Friday afternoon Chinese time, just before sales began):
And these pictures show China Unicom seems to have over-prepared their “sales points”, too:
These rather disappointing, initial reactions don’t mean China rejects the iPhone at all, however. Estimates put the number of iPhones sold in China before the official launch today (through imports from Hong Kong and Taiwan, for example) between two and five million units so far. China as a whole has 710 million total cellular subscribers, the most in the world.
You can find more information about iPhone distribution in China here, here and here.
We’ll update this post when we get more information and pictures.
Many thanks to Snake Chen from NetEase (which operates 163.com) for contributing to this article.
Update (all pictures courtesy of tech.163.com):
Our contacts in Beijing say the situation improved when compared to the afternoon, as more and more customers started queuing up later in the evening. According to them, “almost no one” (quote) was waiting in front of the Beijing Apple Store before 8pm, before around 50 people showed up at exactly that time. Within an hour, 150 iPhone customers were waiting to get the Jesus phone – even though it was cold and raining in Beijing. Not bad, but again, this is nothing against the hysteria when the iPhone launched in other territories (under totally different circumstances and much earlier, we know).
Here are some pictures of that location in the evening (taken between 7:40 and 8:00 pm Chinese time):
China Unicom’s launch event was well-attended, we hear. The person who receives the frame (see picture below) from Apple’s VP is China’s first (official) iPhone owner. China Unicom’s CEO can be seen to the left of the proud guy.
And Unicom’s “The Place” attracted a pretty good crowd later on as well, as these pictures show:
Just FYI, Japan didn’t go nuts on the iPhone right away either. And why this is happening in China has been well, well documented.
Well, I live in Japan, was there when it happened and can say with confidence it did.
Hard to argue with that. :)
What I see is $1000 US Phone without WiFi.
Gray has 3GS for $500 with WiFi
you choose.
In Japan there were long lines from the night before the launch.
People queuing up to buy the new shiny thing is sad anyway.
deep
probably because if you didn’t have a special pass from the government to be there/buy the phone you would have been beaten, detained, and tortured for 48 hours straight.
Sounds like you have been there.
FAIL. That was in Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan. And torturers were Americans not the Chinese.
Do you really think Abu Ghraib is the only place things like that happen?
no I don’t… there’s wankrs in every country and culture… that’s exactly my point dude.
er, that’s (really) a poor analogy. original poster was talking about the government limiting the freedom of its own citizens. restricting access to goods & services is not the same as torturing foreigners.
well, the original poster was somehow making a connection between the chinese people not buying the iphone and the chinese government restricting freedom… which to me has no relevance either… it’s just china bashing…
I think he was just making a bad joke.
to john – you can read can’t you? of course he was talking about torture. his ignorance is his most obvious trait.
you caught me! I cannot read.
Abu Ghraib is in Iraq. FAIL? (in so many ways)
oh yeah… sorry about that… my ignorance. (But so?) I ain’t no president… I am allowed to be stupid… (remember your ex-president?)
Oh boy you act like communist china’s govt didn’t kill 600 million Chinese citizens
i didn’t act this way or that way… nor am I really making a stand on any issue here… it’s YOUR inability to think objectively and look at each and every single issue as it is… without having a habitual tendency to just latch on to simplisitc associations to words, events or images that was repeated to you in your mass media, political spin and propaganda machine… is it fair to blame the almost complete annihilation of the native American culture to your current Obama administration?
Wow, this dude is ranting about Indians, as in those feather-wearing Indians in cowboy and indian movies? LOL LOL
Yep. You got it! Em’ feather wearing chief dudes from the movies!!! You also see them in cartoons aswell!!
Yet another typical brainwashed
Give it a rest. Its idiots like you that cause people to totally misunderstand this country and its people. How do I know? I’m an American living and working here.
Yeah, but do you have the right to bear arms?
Well then!!!!!
As for me, I wouldn’t want arms that looked like a bear’s arms. ;)
I wonder if it has something to do with the preferences that Asians have regarding the users interface.
(Besides, although I live in the Western world, I don’t find the Jesus Phone appealing enough to go queuing up for such a device)
Have you seen some of the phones they’ve got over there? You can get a dual-sim smartphone with a full keyboard for just over a hundred bucks.
yeah, but they really aren’t particularly good. if-y build quality, software is a poor ripoff of the iphone interface, screens generally aren’t as big.
can get them easily on ebay.
it’s because all the big apple/iphone fans in China already had a jailbroken iphone 2 years ago..
Exactly. If you wanted one you got an import without neutred functionality.
hahaha so true.
iPhone is too late to come to China, that’s why.
I think China is probably a bit aware of the commercial implications of iphones so is giving it a wide birth. That and the fact that China have survived without it for so long so probably wonder why they need it now
NOT TRUE!
http://fortunebrainstormtech.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/screen-shot-2009-10-30-at-5-32-59-am.png
Yeah, I can’t believe this Soto guy. He’s trying to make it look like no one showed up.
The event, held at multiple locations, went off awesome.
Dude, I think that’s a picture at the airport or something. Propaganda.
It is actually a picture of thousands of people lining up for free porridge during the Tiannamen Square uprising in 1989.
By the way, moneylinks guy is a sleazy spammer.
Momar, do you know the definition of spam? You should look it up before you start slinging it around. I run a respectable membership site. I send emails to my members, if they choose to receive them as part of the membership that the voluntarily sign up for. They can choose to stop receiving my email, or choose to end their membership at any time, at their own will, with no assistance needed by me.
I knew it. Thanks for proving my point Money!
Wow. Ignorance truly is bliss.
If you weren’t a spammer, you would use your name rather than a stupid website address. You are one desperate dude. Your site sucks to begin with. I just checked– it has no traffic.
You really should get a life. My name is right on my website. Desperate? Ummm, how so? This will be my last reply, as I have much more important things to do. Cya.
Maybe reality will sink in now that iPhone is past its prime and those that cared for one – have it and most people just don’t care about useless apps.
The expense in China is insane. I’d love to see how RIM is going in China, anyone tracking that?
Functioanlity over fashion
“Functioanlity over fashion”
Nice troll.
really fer sure, the i-am-an-overhyped-feature-Phone, 99,999 Fart apps, = fashion item whose appeal is fading.
its almost comical how stupid people like you are that post on sites. do you even know how to read? if so, I suggest you go read apple’s just released quarterly report. maybe you’ve been too busy sitting around counting fart apps…
Ummm, ‘course they’re not excited about the iPhone. Would you be excited about an archaic phone, way past its prime and almost unchanged from a three-year old original? Not to mention the crazy advanced, and way cheaper, phones they have in China.
If by advanced you mean phones with operating systems from the late 90s and no app store to speak of…
yes, please enlighten us on the “crazy advanced” phones they have in china (and dual-sim functionality does not qualify). I’ve been to China….and Korea, and Japan. While the phones they had 10 years ago buried the stuff being used in the US, the situation has reversed dramatically. Have you seen/used the supposedly super-double-secret-awesome phones they have in Japan? Poor user interfaces and mobile web is terrible – literally unrecognizable when compared to iphone, plam pre, or even blackberry. Reminds me of WAP on your StarTac in 1999. There are certain integrated services that are commonplace that you don’t find over here – most notably an ‘e-wallet’ type service. But that has much more to do with adoption by the public (i.e marketing) than limitations on software, network etc.
There are crazy advanced, and maybe not too way cheaper, phones in the US, too. It’s just not the i-am-an-overhyped-feature-Phone. Verizon Wireless Windows Mobile 6.1 Samsung Omnia laptop tethers, multitasks, has a 5 megapixel camera, microSD slot, and the one of the browser available for it, Skyfire runs Flash 9, and it doesn’t need no official company approved store to get apps. But hurry, it’s only $30 now while supplies last, Omnia 2 is coming out soon.
duh – can you even write in coherent sentences?
“Functioanlity over fashion”
And spelling over fandom?
Typo dick .. Why are iPhone fanboys such pompous stick up their ass douche bags?
Your device is failing, and your days of being another Apple niche are approaching.
To Markt – Another twit-tard poster – I suggest that you also read Apple’s last quarterly report. It won’t make you any more intelligent but at least you’ll be informed about what a huge success the iPhone continues to be.
You mean the report where Apple keep inflating iPhone sales by lumping in iTouch sales? Everyone knows it’s not selling at a pace the 3G did and the bulk of 3GS sales are upgrades.
Apple will never have more then 20% world wide market share – it’s not in their DNA. If they wanted it – they’d be cross carrier by now in the states and killing it .. but no – they prefer the fat profit margin. So unless your actively play the market based on Apple’s stock price – who cares? I care about the device and to me it’s old news. Had the 1st model, 3G and use a 3GS (as an iPod more then anything).
2010 needs to be a big year from Apple – the same old / let’s trickle in upgrades a la iPod strategy will NOT work in the mobile space. But then again there seems to be a large amount of idiot Apple users …
Does this mean Apple Iphone has not been received well in two largest and fastest growing Telecom Industry, China and India ?
In India too, it was launched last year and failed to evoke good response though it was hyped!
not exactly a failure I would say…. Vodafone (64 million subscribers) and Airtel (110 million subscribers) together sold about 20000 iPhones in India (yes that’s right its 20k, not a typo) in 1 year…. if you consider that a success that is….
when will iphone 3gs be launched in india
ouch. those pictures are embarassing.
you did look at all the pictures didn’t you? there were significant crowds at the time of the launch that evening. just not earlier in the day.
You have an Illness called Affluenza it is a pandemic and affects millions
I agree with Ilia. China is maybe the major assembler of electronic devices, so the features iphone offers must be found in many other “generic” devices in many auction sites.
just curious… how much is it in China? :)
It is like 7000 rmb for 32gb 3gs without wifi. I would just buy bunch of unlocked from AT&T and sell in China. I can still make a very good profit out of it.
China Mobile’s GSM network will support regular iPhone 3GS
too bad you can’t buy unlocked iphones from att
then just buy them anywhere in Hong Kong
This is what happens when Apple try to navigate Nokian waters… SHAME!!!
Something to do with the iphone not having full funcitonality?
(in China…not in general!)
I think you may have been watching the wrong retail outlet. The main event Friday was at China Unicom’s “The Place,” not Apple’s Sanlitun store.
? the sign in the background says “The Place”
There you go, CNN author drops in to save iphones/Apple’s burnt nose.
One should accept failures with courage, not try to
make excuses.
Great.
Harry – you are an idiot! As the article states, there are already “Millions” of iphones in China. And the author is stating the facts that you seem to not be able to see.
It is because data plans in China are hard to come by and when you can get them, they are way too expensive. Thus, all you are left with is a cool *looking* phone that has a cool camera and a cool touch screen. Other than that, hardly any useful apps in Chinese, hardly any internet capability.
I know a Chinese guy who had the iphone for months, but only used it as a camera. He didn’t even have it connected. He was forced to carry two phones. A regular dumb phone to talk on, and the iphone to show off pictures and other cool touch screen demonstrations.
What? How can a data plan be ‘hard to come by’? Did you just completely make up that entire paragraph?
No. It is true. Full blown data plans like the ones in United States that allow full internet access are REALLY hard to come by here.
True. Using the internet on the phone in China is a biatch, whether you are on an iphone or any other phone. Connectivity sucks.
That is total BS! I live in China, have a 3Gs iphone, have great connectivity, and to get my data plan I simply walked into China Unicom and got one. And as far as expensive – NOT, my plan is $22 per month. Further, I get WiFi all over Beijin including my local Starbucks as I have an unlocked phone purchased in Hong Kong.
These photos were taken during afternoon, but the launch event starts at night. What lazy asses reporter! There were hundreds people lining up there now still, to wait to be activated.
As a journalist too, feel shame on whoever wrote this article.
As a journalist (who replies anonymously), you should have taken a bit of time to actually READ the article before starting a rant like this.
But let me highlight some key sentences for you:
- (…) SEEMS to arouse little interest
- China (…) SEEMS to react differently
- Here are some pictures from the Beijing Apple Store (taken Friday AFTERNOON Chinese time, just BEFORE sales began)
- These rather disappointing, INITIAL reactions (…)
and
- We’ll UPDATE this post when we get more information and pictures.
Your use of the word “SEEMS” doesn’t solve your problems Serkan.
This is beyond lazy reporting. This appears to be biased and misleading reporting.
Then read the other three points in the list above.
MobileCrunch is a blog. We need to report fast, and there’s not one sentence that’s biased or whatever in the report at the time I wrote it.
And remember:
“CHINESE 163.com [NOT MobileCrunch] are reporting that not too many people were actually queuing up to get one, at least in Beijing.”
But enough of that. An update follows in a bit anyway.
Yes, I think an update is in order to accurately reflect the totality of the circumstance.
This man deserves a ribbon for being a high minded dick that tries to come off as being perfect. “totality of the circumstance”? Are you serious?
He is actually known for his highly intellectual rants about Indians, Chinese, and immigration.
i think most Chinese would like spend 5000 RMB on a computer or a professional camera . they are not very rich and a traditional GSM phone could function well too.
China is a totally different market when it comes to mobile phones, It just wont be the same to expect that china would have the same hype level as any other country where the Iphone made its debut.
And since the iphone also connects to the web think about this would china have the same diversity off application available at the appstore.
China has its own circle of doing things and thats just not the same, for us then. When the Iphone establish a competition on china market that when things will change and the hype take off.
well i wouldn’t have much use for an Iphone either if my government had control over what i could use the internet for….
china has the fake iphone, so they are probably not interested in the 5000 RMB iPhone.
“First Unicom dumbfounded, then apples dumbfounded” computer assisted translation of a comment in Chinese on the “reporting” link in the first paragraph.
I’m thinking this probably didn’t do as well as everyone had hoped both due to people getting imports much much earlier, and because of the fact that the iPhone has crippled functionality.
If data plans are so hard to come by, I don’t see why the government was so insistent that they not have wi-fi. The phones basically have no mobile connectivity at all now.
+1
+1
Agreed: “The phones basically have no mobile connectivity at all now.”
What the point having fancy hardware but very little available Chinese applications and no web connectivity? I rather spend RMB5000 on other fancy hardware, like a fancy bicycle!
Where are people getting this crap? Data plans ARE NOT HARD TO COME BY IN CHINA. DATA PLANS ARE NOT HARD TO COME BY IN CHINA. Let me say it again, DATA PLANS ARE NOT HARD TO COME BY IN CHINA. Whats more, the new 3G networks are fast at accessing the internet!!!!! I know because I live and work here, and have a data plan with my iphone and it works great on the data plan that was easy to get and is FAST. Got it!
wait…. do you live and work in china?
No, he lives and works in the US (“here”). However, he claims to be an expert regarding performance of mobile data networks in China.
Freerange tries to come across as a prestigious white boy who landed a job working in China. Wip pee do.
However, in his rants, he sounds like a loose canon. I have seen his type. They are a dime a dozen in Asia. They start out as back packers roaming from city to city. They eventually become English “teachers” earning $200 a month, living in dumpy closet-sized efficiencies. They are nicknamed White Beggars.
why would a form-factor 2 years old be appealing to the masses at this point. the hardware isn’t cutting edge either, in fact, it appears it’s trending towards middle-of-the-pack by Q1 2010. this can’t be considered to be news-breaking, but just a good reminder that modern technology is developed with obsolescence in mind. apple can only ride the wave for so long before it reaches a cusp.
blah blah blah blah blah – another fricking “expert” who doesn’t know anything. Its not just about the hardware stupid! And hardware is constantly getting updated…
Mark Texas: I’ve been making some calls around town, and guess what? People think you’re a cunt. No joke.
I’m not a bit surprised by this. Having been to China on several business events I can say that this country has more knock off products than any location on the planet. If you are Chinese the options for cheap iPhone knockoffs are everywhere. Each time I have been in Shanghi I am approached at least a dozen times with deals of iPhone knock offs.
Coming from Vietnam, I can tell you that the iPhone was already in China. Maybe not “officially” but people would buy them from the USA (or other places), crack them, then sell them for twice the price. It’s common practice in Vietnam and China. So, most likely, everyone in China expected the iPhone to be just as expensive so no one showed up until word got out that it was official and (probably) cheaper than what most iPhones are selling for in their local side-shop.
Also, knowing China (and Vietnam), there’s a good chance that they might have paid people just to go visit the store (or trick them into going to the store) so people would think it was a success
How many apps are in Vietnamese language?
I can imagine the Yietnamese having these phones just for show, but not knowing how to use them.
Nathan, do you know FreeRange? Did you guys room and board together at the prestigious English For Today Academy in Dien Bien Phu?
Oh geez….now I am confused. Pictures here show big line-ups( http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/30/photo-chinese-queue-up-for-iphone
)
Why is everyone only quoting the price without a contract where China is concerned? Don’t most users historically choose for a contract in exchange for a price reduction? A 32GB 3GS is actually FREE in China if you get the biggest contract. And of course, there is a complete range of prices in between. Why in China are we only quoting the non-contracted price when we have never done that before with other countries?
Seems like a lot of FUD perhaps by unethical people shorting Apple stock? Heck, writers were complaining about poor iPhone sales weeks before the unit even went on sale! I think I’ll wait for some real numbers before I buy these unreliable reports.
China this time cut the wifi off. WTF company it is. Only stupid people like to buy this without wifi.Maybe they r rich, only using 3G for internet and phone talk, never knowing WIFI function.
Not a single smartphone legally sold in China is allowed to have wifi enabled! Iphone is no different than the others here.
By the way, if I told you hey, tomorrow I’m going to have a big event, we are starting to sell Coca-Cola! Yeah! Can you believe it? For real you will now be able to buy it! Would you show up to that event knowing you can already buy it everywhere?
Why bother to introduce to China. They will just make their own version, like everything else.
There was a bootleg China version of the iPhone right around the release of the original one in the US.
Certainly no surprise. The Chinese government pretends that they can’t do anything about it.
Main raison it’s failing has nothing to do with the iphone, it’s the same for all Apple hardware.
But because you can basically get everything overnight from HongKong to China Mainland, without tax (say 15% cheaper), everyone get their Apple stuff (laptop, etc..) from HK.
oh, and HK iphone is unlocked, and with wifi.
But after a while the unlocked iphones stop working because cannot update.
original HK iPhones update without problems. I own one and updated several times already. It’s just the unlocked US iPhones which cost a bit less.
nice day to china .. but its manufacturer in china and why this is opening so late.
I just bought me TWO iphones. They say the iphone will become outdated real fast and will expire. Therefore, I bought a second one in case the first one expires. I keep my reserve iphone in the box and will use it when the first one becomes obsolete.
Isn’t it funny how china makes these phones but the last one to receive them? Sounds like what my parents told my of russian communist growing up, the person that makes the product is the last one to receive it.
China has a lote of fake products, so it might not be a big deal
3G is too expensive comparing to resident’s income in China. Average young people has a salary range around 3000 RMB. There is no data plan offering unlimited web access from China Unicom.
The cheapest package cost 96 RMB/Month with only 300MB data. The most expensive package cost 886 RMB/Month with 3GB data. ($1=6.82RMB) For exceeding traffic, 0.3 RMB for 1MB. No matter how much money you are willing to pay, you can only get maximum of 6G traffic per month, then your data connectivity is shut down until next month.
To get a plan is easy. But all these plan looks ridiculous to me. It is not only expensive, but also not usable. Tons of money will fly away if you watch videos under these package.
Regarding the iphone, without wifi and with the packages provided above, the iphone basically has no connectivity.
Even for the fans, better plan is to buy a wifi-enabled iphone from Hongkong, try the cheapest package or just wait for a more reasonable package in future.
Final point regarding app store, it will not work in China just like iTune. People will use the free pirate one instead of paying for it.
It would be very interesting to know specifically why the Chinese haven’t fallen for the iPhone. Maybe its a cultural thing. Their must be a solid reason for it. Unless its based on the economy.
See my previous post.
reason is simple, apple is not cool, and overpriced. nokia is cool in china.
for that people queuing up to buy stuff, sometimes it just a set up, they hire some to queue there ,to make a buzz, and drive media attention.
They’ve had fake iphones in China for a long time now.
The main reason nobody stands in line in Beijing:
The iPhone is available here for quite some time now. So most people who really wanted one, already have a legally unlocked Hongkong version iPhone (some have cracked US versions) they can use with any SIM worldwide, especially with the far more widespread China Mobile network (even if it’s only EDGE) even with prepaid cards (like I do).
Also the prices you get in the Tech Market in Beijing are even lower than the prices at China Unicom with contract. So even if I wanted the 3G network, I still would get an unlocked phone and the contract separately.
Anf I forgot about the lack of WiFi in the Unicom iPhone – in a city like Beijing, where any Coffee Shop has free WiFi
“iPhone are expected to touch 60,000 to 70,000 in China this month. ”
General Failure! for APPLE.