Apple's iPhone 4S already on sale in China

[Rhonald]

I wonder how much a knock off will cost? Better Idea, maybe I should bring some phones over and sell them there. It would pay for my trip! 


Apple's iPhone 4S was available in several Beijing shops Saturday, despite not officially being for sale in China.
 
"Today we have got two from Canada, they're 11,000 yuan ($1,720) each. If you're interested, you need to come straight away," a saleswoman at a mobile phone shop at Hailong market told AFP.
 
She said it was a 16GB model, the least expensive in the range. In the US the same phone is sold for $199 with a two-year contract.
 
At Zhongguancun, the Chinese "Silicon Valley", in the northwest of Beijing, a shopkeeper specialising in Apple products said: "We don't have any more, it will be next Tuesday at best."
 
Many Chinese media titles also reported on the high-price sales of the much sought-after phones.
 
By the end of August China had 940 million mobile phone users, 10 percent of which were on 3G, according to the ministry of industry and information technology.
 
Wang Jianzhou, the President of China Mobile, the country's biggest operator, said they had sold 9.5 million iPhones by the end of September, according to the Beijing Qingnian Bao newspaper.
 
The second biggest operator, China Unicom, announced a drop in price for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 from Sunday although the official date for the launch of the iPhone 4 in China has not been set.
 
The latest Apple product was launched in seven countries on Thursday and will be released for sale in another 22 countries on October 28.
 
According to experts in the field it will come out in China towards the end of the year, Xinjing Bao newspaper reported.
 
Apple products are extremely popular in China where people queue for hours to get their hands on the latest devices.
 
After the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs last week almost 35 million tributes were posted on the microblogging site Sina Weibo.

[lfputman3]

The sad fact, you have an outdated iPhone4, bought an iPhone4S, and the iPhone5 was held up for some minor issues, b/c they didn't want to repeat the 'beta' issue of the original iPhone4 launch

Lloyd

[john1964]

I phones and Steve Jobs, MinYing has installed QQ on both of our I Phones so she can keep in contact during our day, Around a week ago she sent me a off-line message and when i read it at the end of the message  was, "FROM STEVE JOBS I PHONE", She sent me another message and the same thing came at the end of the message instead from "MinYings I Phone", I kept my head and asked her what time we were going to QQ that night and her reply was around 7-7:30 that evening, It was only around 4pm that I received the last message so i replied that i was a little disturbed and will wait to talk to her, Within 20 minutes she was home and was on-line straight away asking what was wrong, I asked her who this "STEVE JOBS " was and why she was using another man,s phone , She was in a panic and showed me on the web-cam that she sent the messages from her phone and not another phone,
 I am just one of probably millions who own an APPLE phone and i wonder how many other people noticed this message and got a little suspicious ,
I wish these big companies would think of the problems they could cause from this message, Maybe it could of read ( in memory or Steve Jobs ), I am sorry to hear of the early passing of this man , Just my 50 cents worth. John.

[Vince G]

I think it funny as hell as I imagine you may have said WHEN I GET A HOLD OF THIS STEVE JOBS I'LL KILL HIM!

[john1964]

yep

[lfputman3]

I told Yuan I will bring her an iPhone4 in December, she protested and said she wanted the new one. I pointed out to her, that I and one of my close friends here (another accountant) both know people in places with knowledge of certain products. Ironically the day after her protest and our conversation as to 'why I will buy a 4S' an article came out on one of the tech websites addressing the key issues of the iPhone5.

-It is a 4G LTE phone, but they want it thin like the iPod nano and Touch. The LTE antenna is as thick as the iPhone4
-Steve Jobs had a problem with not only the antenna, but a couple other upgrade items, including the fact they only had an 8M camera (which is on the 4S)

While there are many rumors about Jobs management approaches, I as a native Michigander would have to compare him to Henry Ford. In one simple way, he changed the game and the market. BTW, the tech mag predicted 12 months, unless the 4S sales slump too quickly, but there is a new iPad coming out in March, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[Vince G]

Must it be an iPhone?

I'm a Mac guy. I've always had Macs from the beginning. I've had other PC's also but never would give my Mac up. Last year (Oct) I started shopping for new phones. I even made a list of phones I liked best but then I held off a while. This past August I decided to do some changes and after shopping some phones I bought a Motorola ATRIX 4G phone. It is also a 4G LTE. Just as good as an iPhone. Which is better is an opinion, it's that good. Later I opened the list I made last year (cleaning out the old stuff) and there at the top of the list was the phone I ended up buying. I just received a newsletter the ATRIX 2 is coming out? I don't see a difference? So in short, there are other just as good phones to get.

[lfputman3]

always remember, there are some items that are about status. It's my carrier with an international plan and it came in an American box. Never mind that the carriers had a massive knockoff on price, to other Chinese women in her social circles, I bought her an iPhone. As for must it be an iPhone, she is a devout Mac person and sort of admitted breaking her iPhone3 which is why she has a cheap POS bbery knock-off now... which is btw, broken. she is crying about giving up her Chinese number, but I have told her she does not need to give it up. I use vonage for home and international calling and they have a nice program for dummy lines and a 'link-in' system for mobile phones which allows one to actually not use the Vonage App, which right now is being updated due to a version glitch... 

but for her, yes, it had to be an iPhone, no complaints from me, she did buy her new Mac and wouldn't accept a penny from me, which is probably why she figures she deserves the iPhone.


However, if I was going to China next week, I'd be carrying some 4S' with me, I think you can get away with carrying four devices???