
A Glum Sign for Apple in China, as Smuggled iPhones Go Begging - xbmcuser
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/technology/personaltech/glum-sign-for-apple-in-china-smuggled-iphones-go-begging-.html
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aaronbrethorst
I don't think it's a glum sign. They're still selling for a significant margin
over what retail prices will be. And if you, as a prospective buyer, only need
to wait a couple more weeks to get your hands on one[1], why would you pay
double retail price?

[1] [http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/27/apple-expected-
to-...](http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/27/apple-expected-to-begin-
selling-iphone-6-in-china-on-october-10)

~~~
wodenokoto
You don't pay double to get the phone. You pay double to get the phone before
everybody else. Wealthy Chinese are notorious for showing off their wealth.

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xbmcuser
So far Apple has been able to stay out of the race to the bottom when it comes
to prices of its devices. And it did not look that the price of its devices
was going to slow its sales much. I have always believed the 2 year contract
system with small upfront cost has helped Apple move devices a lot in the US.
And without 2 year contracts it would not dominate as much as it does.

~~~
r00fus
> So far Apple has been able to stay out of the race to the bottom when it
> comes to prices of its devices.

In fact, with increased memory (128GB) and the new 6+ form factor and pricing
(i.e., $100 more), the ASP of an Apple device may actually climb.

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contingencies
My wife and I were in the market for a phone and wandered around a large phone
market in a second tier city two weeks ago. We considered the top end Samsung
and Apples, but eventually bought a Xiaomi for under 900RMB ($145). It has a
decent camera, a fast processor, dual SIMs. I would have preferred a FirefoxOS
device but there's none available here yet.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Not to mention Xiaomi has the best copy of iOS look and feel that you can buy.

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contingencies
I think this is a foreign media myth. It's Android through and through, very
obviously. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone could confuse it with an
attempt at iOS copying, it's has zero similarity to my eye.

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seanmcdirmid
the copying is overt, the only people denying it are xiaomi themselves. They
obviously can't enter western markets with their products as is, the lawsuits
would be too easy.

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nicholassmith
Or it's a sign that the market was saturated at too high a price, or a sign
that people are waiting for the official release so they don't have the risk
of not having warranty. If it's a glum sign for Apple that China has lost
interest _and_ that they still sold 10+m devices, I'm sure they won't be too
upset.

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melling
The iPhone is in the final stages of approval in China. Is it really worth
paying a premium for at this point?

[http://bgr.com/2014/09/26/iphone-6-iphone-6-plus-china-
avail...](http://bgr.com/2014/09/26/iphone-6-iphone-6-plus-china-
availability/)

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omegaworks
>he hoped a new crackdown on smuggling by customs officers would help push
their price back up.

Black market economics. Restrict the flow of desired product only serves to
enrich those with access to the distribution channels.

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gambiting
Real market economics too. People slow down production of certain goods to
have their prices go up. It happens everywhere, from food to consumer
electronics.

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SG-
I was under the impression that early iPhone models weren't even available in
China officially and recent models have been delayed for quite a while before
officially being available.

It seems this time it will simply be a few weeks as the article indicates,
could it be that demand is lower for grey market iPhones 6s because of the
imminent release this time around?

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xuki
iPhone 5s was available for sale in China on day 1

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SG-
So I guess the 5s which was the previous model wiped out the grey market
entirely for iPhones then or at least set expectations for people in China?
Anyways, my point was grey market for brand new iPhones is much lower than it
used to be years ago.

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xuki
Nope, they were crazy for the gold version.

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r00fus
The lack of brisk smuggler sales likely indicates confidence that Apple has
passed it's hurdles in China to sell the iPhone6/+.

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praseodym
The iPhone boxes marked as "i 6" in the mid-article photo look like they
actually contain iPhone 5S models.

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kalleboo
Read the whole article

> “Right now at our market you won’t find a phone that is actually in its
> original packaging,” he said.

Theyre smuggling the phones without packaging then eusing old boxes at retail.

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skc
The authors of this piece are very brave. In a few weeks Gruber will be
calling them jackasses in his claim chowder post.

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antimagic
Whilst I agree with the sentiment, this is not a particularly useful addition
to discussion...

