Data from smartphone market intelligence specialist Counterpoint shows that iPhone market share in China more than doubled between September and October even before launching on the country’s biggest carrier, China Mobile.
Apple’s market share rose from just under 5 percent to 12 percent, taking it from 6th place to 3rd place, behind Samsung and Lenovo …
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Image: appadvice.com
Update: The Chinese government has now confirmed this date.
The iPhone looks set to be launched by China Mobile – the biggest carrier in the world’s biggest country – on Wednesday 18th December, reports the WSJ. While neither the carrier nor Apple have made a definitive announcement, China Mobile has said this is the date it will “introduce a new brand.”
The launch is expected during the company’s 4G global partners conference in Guangzhou, according to China Mobile’s website. An executive at the world’s largest mobile operator has said it is ready to start fourth-generation mobile services, though China has yet to issue 4G licenses. In September, China’s Telecom Equipment Certification Center gave Apple Inc.the final license necessary for the iPhone to run on China Mobile’s network …
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Apple Store, Shanghai
Beijing Morning News reports that local ticket scalpers have found a new way to make money on Apple: booking up all available Genius Bar appointments and then offering them for sale online.
Ticket scalpers usually make their money by buying large quantities of event tickets as soon as they go on sale then illegally selling them for more than face value once the event is sold out. With Genius Bar appointments, they don’t even need to fork out cash in the first place: they just use a bunch of email addresses to make the appointments then advertise them online.
Appointments sell for 10- yuan ($1.60-6.40) in a country where the average monthly salary is equivalent to $580. A Beijing Morning News reporter found there were no appointments available on the Apple site for iPhone, iPad or iPod. They contacted one of the advertisers asking for an appointment the next day and were offered a choice of two local stores and two time slots. The reporter was sent login details for the booking by instant messenger, and was then able to access the booking on the Apple site to change the details to their own.
The reporter contacted Apple for comment, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Thanks, Numble.
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Following the death of a Chinese flight attendant believed to have been electrocuted by a faulty third-party iPhone charger, Apple has added a new webpage to its Chinese site showing how to identify genuine Apple chargers.
Apple always puts the user’s safety first, so all of our products are subject to stringent safety and reliability testing, and are designed to meet government safety standards around the world, including the iPhone and iPad USB power adapters.
This overview will help you identify genuine Apple USB power adapters. When you need to charge the iPhone or iPad, we recommend that you use the supplied USB power adapter and USB cable. These adapters and cables are also available separately from Apple and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The usefulness of the webpage is slightly doubtful, given the fact that most third-party USB chargers come from trusted brands and are perfectly safe to use and that the issue is with the counterfeit chargers that mimic Apple’s charger so closely that it would be hard to tell them apart even with this guide. Apple clearly felt it had to respond in some way, however.
Given recent Chinese Government sensibilities, it is likely that a neutral response like this was judged to be politically safer than a direct statement blaming a locally-made counterfeit charger.
