Apple's iPhone hits China with high price, without Wi-Fi

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 38
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    No, BDA is like the Chinese version of Gartner. They do technical analysis for publications too lazy to do their own research and need to have their "facts" spoonfed to them.



    The Chinese government banned WiFi for a competing standard that, IMO, probably is easier for them to monitor and block should another Tiananmen event ever break out...



    ok, first non political side:



    they are different things:



    1: chinese government bans wifi on iphone

    2: chinese government bans wifi on cell phone

    3: chinese government bans wifi regardless on what device

    4: chinese government bans wifi which is not using chinese wifi standard on cell phone devices



    to my knowledge, wifi is not banned at all in china. newer laptop/some of desktop computers are all default with wifi. in the final rectification meeting of wifi security meeting, chinese proposed a better solution, but it was rejected by the committee. so chinese decided to enforce their version of proposal domestically. i am not sure why only cell phone wifi is targeted in iphone case.



    second, political side:



    it would be really stupid that chinese government bans network access. just take a look at 2 brutal killing rampages in tibet and xingjiang. government stupidly sealed off the official news on the events, but ppl provided the first count video footage to youtube. otherwise, the world would not believe those tibetans and urghars brutally killing innocent people in bright day light. so it is youtube and flickr who saved the chinese government thousands of words to explain what is going on. the effect is just unbelievable.



    third, network politics is very popular in china. one of scary thing on chinese web is the one called "human search". it is a process to identify a person, who committed a bad act, such as spit on street or bad official, etc. once this individual's act generated the mass anger on the web, ppl on the web will automatically create a zeal to find out who this individual is and where s/he lives etc. within a matter of couple of days, this individual will be a national famous household personal. the whole process is from web, on the web, and done by web. no one even knows who really finds out or feeds in the info about this individual. it is much much powerful than any secret agency.
  • Reply 22 of 38
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chesire View Post


    I'm surprised that we are surprised by any of this.



    I love apple products and have for years. They maintain a real 'counter culture, cool, rebel' image merely because of their major competitor, but at the end of the day they will make the deal to increase the stock price.



    They bowed to the Chinese government to get their product in play and in doing so, sacrificed user experience and integrity. So be it.



    I am more disturbed by the bad pricing decision. From a market dominance standpoint I'd imagine they would have wanted to try and push the grey market products out, not give them a leg up. Maybe there is a strategy at work here I don't understand.



    Any economists on the blog?



    you don't need an economist to comment on this.



    yes, any chinese can spend much much less to purchase an iphone from grey market. but the condition is that you have to understand how to configure it by yourself. basically it is boiled down to customer support. i used to purchase some electronic gadgets for friends in china as gifts. they all love those devices, but unfortunately most of them don't know english and how to read the manual.



    in eastern asia, not just chinese, cell phone is not just a phone... it is something more than it to show a person's taste/status. for those who can not afford it, they would go to faked iphone or from grey market or cheaper cellphone. for those who understand english and technology, they would go to US or HongKong to get one. but still there are lots of left who can afford this one at $1000 price range. replacing an old cell phone of $800 to a new one at $1000 is not uncommon things among chinese.
  • Reply 23 of 38
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by samab View Post


    Except chinese wages are 100 times cheaper than in taiwan. And the factories that are manufacturing the iphones are Taiwanese-owned companies.



    well, as a whole, it is true that mainland chinese wage is very low, about $2-3000 per capita. but taiwan only has about 23 millions of people, people in beijing/shanghai or some other big cities of similar population of 20 millions would earn no less than ppl in taiwan, specially if you take into account of government assistant housing program.
  • Reply 24 of 38
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    4) Apple surely knows the market better than I do, but I have to wonder about the pricing. If a more functional device can be had for less money on the grey market why not go with that? I wonder if the high price of the device will build in an elitist market, making it even more of a status symbol. Will we see a price drop after a few months?



    i don't think apple controls the final price. my information is that apple sold a batch of iphones to chinese carrier at a given price which of course is much much lower. chinese carrier is adding more to recover its investment and they are smart too. if the high price is stalling iphone adoption rate, they would come up a new sale pitch. this is new model to them too, so it would take time for them to sort it out and move further.



    when iphone first came into US market, who would have thought its model would make such a big hit?
  • Reply 25 of 38
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chesire View Post


    I'm surprised that we are surprised by any of this.



    I love apple products and have for years. They maintain a real 'counter culture, cool, rebel' image merely because of their major competitor, but at the end of the day they will make the deal to increase the stock price.




    OT, but this gets repeated all the time as if it were self evidently true, but I don't think it is (although it may have been at one time).



    Look at the marketing for the iPhone. Does is seem predicated on maintaining "coolness", or anything remotely resembling "counter culture"? Or does it seem to want to be as friendly and accessible as possible, for as many people as possible?



    If anything, it's Microsoft that goes way out of its way to try and muster some "hipster cred" for its consumer goods.
  • Reply 26 of 38
    thx for this great bolshie news.
  • Reply 27 of 38
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member
    Interestingly; this morning while searching for news on the China iPhone intro., I found this story.

    (It's translated through Google Translate so...)



    Technology News October 30 News, China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing, the first iPhone sold at today's ceremony, science and technology, said on Netease, China Unicom will soon provide users with the perfect cell phones and better 3G network services.

    For the next iPhone will feature built-in WiFi, Chang Xiaobing, said that China Unicom will be completed as soon as possible.

    It is reported that China Unicom today, according to the previously published "24-month contract plan" as well as the bare-metal tariff tariff for sale in two ways.



    October 14, China Unicom officially announced the iPhone price of bare-metal programs. Bare-metal prices to cover all three versions of the introduction of China Unicom's iPhone, which, iPhone 3G 8GB price is 4,999 yuan, iPhone 3GS 16GB price is 5880 yuan, iPhone 3GS 32GB price is 6999 yuan.

    It is learned that participate in the "24-month contract plan" Unicom iPhone mobile phone users, be stored in different amount of the net-cost voice and at least two years, the network when the one-time fees are paid, respectively iPhone 3G 5999 Yuan, iPhone 3GS 16GB 6999 yuan and iPhone 3GS 32GB 7999 Yuan. (Hao)

    (This article Source: Netease technology coverage)
  • Reply 28 of 38
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    1)

    3) Unless they didn?t remove the WiFi chip (which also contains the Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR + FM). That seems costly to do when the chip itself it cheap. If they were allowed I?d reckon they?d just not include the driver or UI elements for the WiFI, but can add them later in an update after this silly WiFI ban for cellphones is over.



    I know in Egypt Apple needed to disable the GPS because of government law that prohibit the use of GPS systems. Apple disabled GPS by software and many were able to reactivate it by jailbreaking. Some countries have some stupid laws.
  • Reply 30 of 38
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Eriamjh View Post


    http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune....up-for-iphone/



    It seems popular.



    I?ll say. Just check out the crowds in front of the store and how long the line is.













    Happy Halloween!
  • Reply 31 of 38
    i love how you jerks speculate about this and that over China...you're dip-sh*tz. yeah, there is some stupid restrictions regarding internet use (amongst other things) and i speak from experience, i am a proud son-in-law of China and i live there part of the year. but you know something? China doesn't contain the ratio of degenerates to "normal" citizens as the USA does (pretty funny considering China runs rings around us population wise). believe it or not, China has a reason for what they do...research it...a primary reason for its tight control on entertainment and information is to protect the general populace from becoming a bunch of immoral, disrespectful, and intellectually retarded group of people as the USA is evermore rapidly devolving into. it's funny how folks whine about China yet they fail to realize (due to their ignorance of China) that unlike the USA, you don't have to worry about child abduction, rape, drive-bys, gang fagg*ts...you know, what we've come to love about our free country! so keep on posting your played out derogatory statements about China, but why don't you follow the tenets of your beloved leader BHO (and HIS comrades) and post information of all the failures of our public education system, murder rates in urban areas...and so forth...you know, in keeping pace with the fairness doctrine. and i am sure to be expecting the usual know-it-all sassy statements and nerdy numbers in response to this...just remember, your beloved leader, the messiah, will save us, right?



    and NO, i am NOT a PC
  • Reply 32 of 38
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    thx for this great bolshie news.



    BS alert!
  • Reply 33 of 38
    Oh, give me a break. I'm far safer walking through South Central Los Angeles than I am in certain parts of Shenzhen. No child abductions? Girls all over China are stolen or sold for prostitution all around the world. No gangs? Triad business in big cities in China is nearly as bad as the Yakuza in Japan. Try walking through parts of Shenzhen without getting your arm pulled by prostitutes. Notice those beggars without hands or feet? Their hands and feet were CUT OFF by the beggar masters so that they could earn more money. And criticizing BHO for being a bad or corrupt politician!? Compared to Chinese politicians!?



    You are definitely trolling here and I don't believe you stand behind a word you've said.



    Yes, the US is degenerate. I left the US because I think Americans are arrogant, rude and selfish and reality TV is an embarrassment to American culture. But to sacrifice freedom for censorship by choice!? Maybe you're better off in North Korea than China, with that attitude.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xiaohuzi View Post


    i love how you jerks speculate about this and that over China...you're dip-sh*tz. yeah, there is some stupid restrictions regarding internet use (amongst other things) and i speak from experience, i am a proud son-in-law of China and i live there part of the year. but you know something? China doesn't contain the ratio of degenerates to "normal" citizens as the USA does (pretty funny considering China runs rings around us population wise). believe it or not, China has a reason for what they do...research it...a primary reason for its tight control on entertainment and information is to protect the general populace from becoming a bunch of immoral, disrespectful, and intellectually retarded group of people as the USA is evermore rapidly devolving into. it's funny how folks whine about China yet they fail to realize (due to their ignorance of China) that unlike the USA, you don't have to worry about child abduction, rape, drive-bys, gang fagg*ts...you know, what we've come to love about our free country! so keep on posting your played out derogatory statements about China, but why don't you follow the tenets of your beloved leader BHO (and HIS comrades) and post information of all the failures of our public education system, murder rates in urban areas...and so forth...you know, in keeping pace with the fairness doctrine. and i am sure to be expecting the usual know-it-all sassy statements and nerdy numbers in response to this...just remember, your beloved leader, the messiah, will save us, right?



    and NO, i am NOT a PC



  • Reply 34 of 38
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xiaohuzi View Post


    i love how you jerks speculate about this and that over China...you're dip-sh*tz. yeah, there is some stupid restrictions regarding internet use (amongst other things) and i speak from experience, i am a proud son-in-law of China and i live there part of the year.



    Well isn't this just precious!?!



    You don't hold your countrymen in very high regard that they have to be protected against immorality, do you? If your country was as pure as you seem to think, wouldn't they be too upstanding to be corrupted? Or do we just not hear about it in your repressed society? There was a coach at the Beijing Olympics whose parents were randomly stabbed at a nearby tourist site, it got a lot of press over here. It probably happens on a daily basis, but your "beloved party" doesn't allow word to get out. That's the difference. If you don't have rapes being reported, then you don't have rapists being prosecuted, which means you probably have a lot more rapes than the worldwide average -- because it's hushed up.



    Here's the acid test though, could you publicly hold the opposite opinion in Beijing? I didn't think so. Democracy has it's faults, but when we get tired of one set of leaders, at least we have the opportunity to throw them out. How does that work in RC again? Here's a link to a recent NYTimes to some of the more ludicrous laws your beloved leaders enact on their citizens. I bet most people in RC wish they could choose their own leaders with s**t like this on the books all across your country.



    Be sure to enjoy your totalitarian government when you go back home, where the government tells you what to think and what you can say and what you can do and who you can be. We notice that you claim to leave RC on a regular basis, why is that, comrade? Not so happy there after all?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xiaohuzi View Post


    and NO, i am NOT a PC



    You aren't a PC or a Mac... You're just a troll who found AI through an internet search (that your government cheerfully blocks you from doing when you are home!)...



    Besides, aren't you supposed to be using the government approved Red Flag Linux, comrade?
  • Reply 35 of 38
    tonton: hey, i resemble that remark!



    John.B: Mister, what DOES suck about China is not being able to show my friends the Village People's "Sex Over the Phone" video on YouTube...that makes me angry!
  • Reply 36 of 38
    they should just buy the aPhone, or MiPhone, or maybe even the iPhone Mini (with two sim slots)



    They are cheap
  • Reply 37 of 38
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    the competition to the 3g 3gs is the 2g from ebay which works and has wifi

    chinese want internet access just like we do
  • Reply 38 of 38
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I?ll say. Just check out the crowds in front of the store and how long the line is.













    Happy Halloween!



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