Apple's iPhone 4S Goes on Sale in China
Information Times, 1/13/12
The iPhone 4S smartphone went on sale today at Apple Store retail outlets throughout mainland China and on China Unicom's (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH) website.
iPhone 4S handsets now for sale online through China Unicom are available as a standalone device with either 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of internal memory, or at no cost for the handset under a 3-year contract at RMB 286 per month or higher for either the 16 or 32 GB version, or a monthly rate of RMB 386 or higher in a 2-year contract for the 16 GB version. Consumers can choose a payment plan and purchase a specific iPhone 4S model at China Unicom's authorized online service center, 10010.com.
A China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) spokesperson has revealed that support for both the new Siri speech recognition engine and iCloud cloud storage functions introduced with the iPhone 4S will be available through China Mobile's WLAN network, adding that current subscribers can now swap their present SIM card for one customized for full compatibility with the new iPhone 4S features. A source at a China Mobile base in southern China has said that to mark the launch of the iPhone 4S, the telecom operator recently developed a CMMB mobile TV player that China Mobile subscribers with an iPhone 4S can download and use with additional hardware to receive CMMB digital TV programming.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also published the network access permit for the CDMA version of the iPhone 4S on its website today, and a Guangdong Telecom executive claimed that a CDMA version iPhone 4S will soon reach the market. Industry speculation suggests that China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) will launch the CDMA iPhone 4S sometime in February.
Editor's Note: Sina Tech has reported in two separate articles that the iPhone 4S sales page on China Unicom's 10010.com customer service website was inaccessible for short periods this morning due to excess traffic, and also that the Joy City shopping mall in Beijing's Xidan district, limiting each customer to two iPhone 4S handsets apiece, sold 4,000 units in the first hour of sales. Meanwhile, the Apple Store in Beijing's Sanlitun district canceled its sales of the iPhone 4S today following scuffles overnight between scalpers gathered outside the store.
For more background on this topic, please see "China Unicom Announces iPhone 4S Contract Plans" MD 1/06/12 issue and "iPhone 4S to Launch in China on January 13" MD 1/05/12 issue.
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