Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c to receive significant subsidies from Chinese carriers
Newly-released rate cards from China Unicom and China Telecom reveal that Apple's newest handsets will hit the street for significantly less than their sticker prices.
As the Chinese market becomes increasingly important for Apple, the company's carrier partners in the middle kingdom have advertised steep subsidies on the new flagship iPhone 5s and 5c, according to information obtained by ISI and reported by Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog.
China Unicom and China Telecom, the nation's second- and third-largest wireless carriers, will each offer multiple plans in which customers can receive an iPhone 5s or 5c for free in exchange for signing a long-term contract. In typical fashion for Chinese handset subsidies, customers will pay the full price of the device up front and receive a prorated portion of the cost back each month in the form of a discount on their wireless bill.
Japanese carriers NTT DoCoMo ? Apple's newest carrier partner in Asia ? KDDI and Softbank similarly offer plans that give customers a new iPhone for free when signing a long-term contract.
The subsidies may help to assuage investors' fears that the lower-cost iPhone 5c is not inexpensive enough for the still-developing Chinese market. The relatively high cost of the new iPhone, coupled with Apple's lack of transparency about preorder numbers, has caused analysts to downgrade Apple's stock outlook and triggered a steep decline in shares of the Cupertino company.
As the Chinese market becomes increasingly important for Apple, the company's carrier partners in the middle kingdom have advertised steep subsidies on the new flagship iPhone 5s and 5c, according to information obtained by ISI and reported by Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog.
China Unicom and China Telecom, the nation's second- and third-largest wireless carriers, will each offer multiple plans in which customers can receive an iPhone 5s or 5c for free in exchange for signing a long-term contract. In typical fashion for Chinese handset subsidies, customers will pay the full price of the device up front and receive a prorated portion of the cost back each month in the form of a discount on their wireless bill.
Japanese carriers NTT DoCoMo ? Apple's newest carrier partner in Asia ? KDDI and Softbank similarly offer plans that give customers a new iPhone for free when signing a long-term contract.
The subsidies may help to assuage investors' fears that the lower-cost iPhone 5c is not inexpensive enough for the still-developing Chinese market. The relatively high cost of the new iPhone, coupled with Apple's lack of transparency about preorder numbers, has caused analysts to downgrade Apple's stock outlook and triggered a steep decline in shares of the Cupertino company.
Comments
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/techs-rally-but-apple-falls-on-china-news-2013-09-16
Not sure what your link has to do with the post you responded to. I will point out that that story was based on speculation (and blatant market manipulation) and has been contradicted since CT released their rate card...
iphone is expensive , they said /s
It is, that's why the carriers are subsidizing it lol. They know that their customers really want it, so they're locking them into long-term contracts in exchange for the subsidy./s
WTF is that crap? Paying full price and getting lower monthly plan is the textbook definition of [B]NO[/B] subsidies... This is exactly what I do with a unlock phone here in Canada. If they have to pay full price up front a lower cost phone would do much better. This doesnt make any sense to me.
edit: From what I see on other sites, they get a much lower monthly plan with a high price phone than if they get a $99 phone. This is one wierd system, its subsidies in reverse... I like it... I would do that actually because in the end you pay less than american plans, but you need to have cash up front.
The iPhone 5s is sold out in China.
Year over year, we read that Apple had dropped in popularity in China, so this news sounds pretty awesome.
So if someone could summarize all of the what this t_urd has been doing, we could all inundate the SEC with emails asking for an investigation. If enough people do so, I bet someone would pay attention.
Not sure what your link has to do with the post you responded to. I will point out that that story was based on speculation (and blatant market manipulation) and has been contradicted since CT released their rate card...
Rogifan is deliberately spreading doom and gloom FUD. Almost every story about the 5s or 5c contain FUD posts from him.
But… but… APPLE IS DOOMED!
Apple should sue them for slanderously tanking their share price.
Analysts should be fired. News organizations should contritely apologize and institute improvements in their shoddy muckraking slash so called journalism.
Crickets.
I thought analysts are never wrong. Just goes to show you that you can't trust every thing you read unless it came from the horse's mouth. And we know Apple doesn't comment in rumors.
Wow. The WSJ Bloomberg Matketwatch Seeking Alpha Mötley Fool LA Times didn't just get it wrong they loudly trumpeted that the iPhones were an overpriced flop DOA in both China and the USA.
Apple should sue them for slanderously tanking their share price.
Analysts should be fired. News organizations should contritely apologize and institute improvements in their shoddy muckraking slash so called journalism.
Crickets.
You know, if you have an estimate of AAPL's actual value, these analysts might actually be helping you. They're pushing the stock down. Now's the chance to buy before the next wave.