There are already huge queues outside of China’s five official Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stores in readiness for tomorrow’s launch of the iPhone 4S. At the two stores in Beijing, and the three in Shanghai, there are clearly lines stretching hundreds of meters, with reports of hundreds of queuers at each, snaking around city blocks (see more photos below). Most stores have a ticketing system to deter queue-jumpers, but that won’t stop the ‘scalpers’ who buy the phones to resell later at a profit. The first SMS I got this morning was from ...
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![Already Huge Queues, Worries About Scalpers, for iPhone 4S Launch in China [PICS]](http://www.penn-olson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/iPhone-4S-launch-queues-China-05-250x250.jpg)
Jan 12 2012
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Already Huge Queues, Worries About Scalpers, for iPhone 4S Launch in China [PICS]
Jan 9 2012
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Reflecting on the Real Cost of Owning Apple
and his quest to find out more about where his favorite gadgets come from. He traces his iRoots all the way back to Foxconn in Shenzhen, a city he says that looks “like Blade Runner threw up on itself.” Foxconn of course is the manufacturer of not only well-known products like the iPhone and iPad, but also other devices almost every company you can think of in the electronics industry. It’s an interesting story, that prompts you to reflect on or question the true cost of owning the latest ...
Jan 8 2012
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7 Must-Read Tech Stories in China This Week
Here’s a quick round of of some of the more notable China tech stories we covered for the first week of 2012! 1. China Implements Real-Name Registration, Online Ticket Sales for Trains, Buses China’s online real name requirements look to be spreading to many corners of the internet, and early in the week we saw that this included China’s online train system, and before long there will be real name requirements to online payment systems (like Alipay, for example) as well. As for microblogs, we also found out this week that the ...
Jan 6 2012
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China Unicom Reveals Contract Plans for iPhone 4S, ‘Free’ Comes at a Price
China Unicom (NYSE:CHU; HKG:0762), the country’s second-largest mobile telco, is finally ready to sell the iPhone 4S - next Friday, the 13th - and has revealed its contract plans. Chinese consumers who sign a two-year contract can get a free iPhone 4S 16GB model if they pay up for a minimum of 386 RMB (US$61) per month of 3G data, SMS, and calls. The cheapest monthly plan is for a mere 66 RMB ($10) per month, but that necessitates a much higher deposit for every model. It’s pretty much the same ...
Jan 4 2012
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It’s Official: iPhone 4S Finally Coming to China on January 13
After months of rumors, whispers, and blatantly made-up news announcements, we finally have a real release date for the iPhone 4S in China. Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) latest smartphone will launch here — and in a whole bunch of other countries — on January 13. And there’s more good news for Chinese Apple fans. Although there had been some speculation that the Chinese 4S might not feature Siri, it looks like those fears were unfounded and Chinese users will be getting access to Apple’s digital personal assistant/robotic troll. Of course, she still ...
Jan 3 2012
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Apple’s Chinese New Year Sales Go Online on Friday, in China and Across Asia
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is apparently keen to celebrate Chinese new year - more popularly known as Spring Festival here - with a “one-day Apple shopping event,” which we hope means ‘sale,’ on Friday, January 6th. As spotted by the 9to5Mac crew, this is running in the Apple online stores in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The Chinese online store (which is here), like all those others in the region, is running that promo artwork showing a dragon of colourful iPads with smart covers (pictured above). Yes, this ...
Jan 3 2012
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Will 2012 Be the Year of the Dragon for Apps?
A recent report from Flurry showed that the final week of the year saw a huge number of app downloads, thank largely to the fact that so many new devices were activated over Christmas. Of course, the US stands out as the biggest holiday app downloaders by far, with 509 million downloads in that week. But I was a little surprised to see China in the two spot with 99 million app downloads, even though the country is the world’s second largest app market. According to the report, China has ...
Jan 2 2012
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‘Lucky Bags’ a Popular Apple Store Tradition in Japan
In Japan, ‘lucky bags’ are a New Year’s Day shopping tradition that offers up a mystery bag of items usually at a discounted price. And perhaps one of the most sought-after lucky bags comes from the country’s Apple Stores. I always considered myself a pretty big Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fan, but this event seems to bring out the most hard-core fanboys. Back in 2010 I tried to queue for a lucky bag, arriving at the store at 5am only to find that overnight campers had filled all the spots. This year ...
Dec 30 2011
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China’s 10 Most Wanted Smartphones – Great News for Android, Not So Much for iPhone
Smartphone growth and usage continued to accelerate in China in 2011 - but which phones do Chinese consumers most want to buy? QQ Tech looked at the most popular product searches for such devices on all the major search engines, and compiled this top ten list. The results are awesome news for Android - which runs on seven of the ten - and offer a glimmer of hope to Nokia. But the iPhone is not the one sitting on the throne. Note that this method is better than taking a poll, ...
Dec 27 2011
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Dispelling the Myth: US Doesn’t Lose Profit to China’s Apple Manufacturing
I came across this interesting piece over on Forbes today about who exactly benefits from the success of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad and iPhone. Those devices remain among the top-selling devices on the planet (particularly the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 this past year), and many assume that China profits by manufacturing the devices and most of their components. While the original report is from back in July , I thought it was worth sharing as it does break some misconceptions about the effects of outsourcing manufacturing to China. The ...
Dec 19 2011
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China iCrazy in 2011: A Look Back at 5 Bad Apples
It has been a year of ups and downs for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in China. On the financial side, Apple did quite well with China accounting for 16 percent of its revenue for the quarter ending in September. The company had new stores open in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which was also reason to Apple fans in China to celebrate. Overall the nation’s passion for all thing Apple was certainly a positive. But there were a few individuals in China this year who put Apple in the headlines for all the ...
Dec 15 2011
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Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak Questions Singapore’s Creativity
A stab in the heart for Singapore nationalists. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn’t a fan of Singapore when it comes to creative thinking. Speaking to BBC, Wozniak questions where are the creative souls in Singapore. Here’s an excerpt from his interview: When you’re very structured almost like a religion… Uniforms, uniforms, uniforms… everybody is the same. Look at structured societies like Singapore where bad behavior isn’t tolerated. You are extremely punished. Where are the creative people? Where are the great artists? Where are the great musicians? Where are the great singers? Where ...
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Japan’s Social Giants: Trends in User Numbers [CHART]
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