China Telecom, D.Phone Lower iPhone 5 Price
Beijing Morning Post, 12/14/12
In anticipation of the iPhone 5's early morning release today in China, China Telecom's (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) Beijing subsidiary has announced that the 16G version of the handset will be made available for RMB 5,088, RMB 200 less than the RMB 5,288 hardware-only price offered by Apple in China.
Yesterday, Chinese mobile phone retailer D.Phone announced that it would be offering the 16G China Telecom version of the iPhone 5 for RMB 4,998 and the China Unicom version of the phone for RMB 5,599, a full RMB 90 and RMB 300 below the contract prices of the handsets, respectively.
Consumer electronics and home appliances retailers Suning (002024.SZ) and Gome (0493.HK) chose not to close their stores on the night of December 13 and began selling the iPhone 5 in the early morning of December 14. Gome customers who brought in an iPhone 4S to swap for an iPhone 5 received a RMB 3,000 discount on the price of the new handset. Suning offered a similar RMB 3,500 discount program for iPhone 4S to iPhone 5 upgrades.
Apple is selling the iPhone 5 via an online reservation system through its three Beijing Apple Stores. Apple began taking reservations for the iPhone 5 at 9 PM on the night of December 13. Customers who receive a confirmation email from Apple are eligible to purchase up to five hardware-only versions of the iPhone 5 at their closest Apple store location.
Keywords: China Telecom D.Phone iPhone handset wireless Suning Apple 002024.SZ 0493.HK 0728.HK CHA pricing retail smartphone
Sending
