Over-priced, Wi-Fi crippled iPhone not selling all that well in China

If proof were needed that having an iPhone contract does not equal automatic success for an operator, just look to China. The iPhone went on sale there last Friday exclusively from the second largest operator, China Unicom. But the highly expensive phone, which has no option for connecting through Wi-Fi, has seen disappointing sales.

What’s the deal?

After months of speculation, China Unicom confirmed it would be selling the iPhone in August. The first hint that prices might not be all that great came in late September, when Unicom announced release dates and some pricing info for the device - and even back then they didn’t look good. Amazingly, the actual prices at the time of launch are worse than what was predicted back in September. And as a result, the Chinese sales of the device have been comparatively very poor over the launch weekend.

Details?

Not even counting the contract, prices for the iPhone go from over $730 for the 8GB model to over $1,000 for the 32GB! There are some discounts depending on the contract you get, but for many consumers the price of the phone represents months and months of savings. And the extra kick in the teeth came when consumers found that the iPhone cannot access Wi-Fi. This means that all data services must be run through the Unicom network - which will incur even larger bills for iPhone owners.

Sales have not been good. A store in Beijing reported a total of 11 phones being sold over the weekend.

What we think?

You can’t sell people crap, even if it’s packaged as an iPhone. And let’s be clear, I’m not claiming the iPhone itself is crap. The device itself is as awesome as ever. It’s the disabled Wi-Fi and the ridiculous pricing that will drive people away.  According to reports, China Unicom is hoping to offer Wi-Fi enabled iPhones by early next year - I would think so! It can’t have been cheap to get those iPhones onto shelves, and Unicom could easily find itself scuppered by the extremely consumer-unfriendly conditions it is being forced to sell the iPhone under. According to the Inquirer, the lack of Wi-Fi support for the device is caused by a disagreement between Apple and China over different standards - with Apple refusing to place non-Western standard equipment in the phones.