China Telecom, the country's No. 3 carrier and No.1 Wi-Fi provider, gets the iPhone
Would-be iPhone 4S buyers in Beijing last month. Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images
"We've been very, very focused on China," Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook told the audience at last week's Goldman Sachs technology conference.
One result of that focus became clear on Monday, when China Telecom (CHA), China's No. 3 mobile carrier and No. 1 Wi-Fi and fixed-line provider (total subscribers: 216 million), announced that it will begin taking iPhone 4S preorders next week for sales starting March 9.
How big a deal is this? To put it in perspective, AT&T (T) sold 7.4 million iPhones last quarter -- Apple's biggest ever -- Verizon (VZ) sold 4.2 million and Sprint (S) 1.8 million.
Click to enlarge.
As of January, China Telecom had 38.7 million 3G subscribers, roughly 15 million of whom, according to a recent Morgan Stanley report, are so-called high-end users who could easily afford -- and are eager to buy -- an iPhone. (See charts.)
China Unicom (CHU), the country's No. 2 carrier, has more 3G subscribers (43 million), but roughly the same number of high-end subscribers as China Telecom. According to Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty, 20% of China Unicom's users have already bought iPhones, a share she expects to eventually grow to more than 60%.
The big prize for Apple in China is still out of reach, however. China Mobile (CHL), the world's largest carrier with more than 600 million subscribers, has been in discussions with Apple for years, and millions of its customers are already using jailbroken iPhones on its older 2G network. But sales won't begin in earnest until Apple offers a 4G version of the iPhone that can run on China Mobile's broadband network.
Huberty estimates that once that happens -- perhaps as early as this fall -- iPhone sales in China could quickly grow to 40 million a year.
According to this report, the iPad's chief competitor was not the Fire but the iPhone 4S
Data: IHS iSuppli. Chart: PED
Amazon (AMZN) had a one-time shot to loosen Apple's (AAPL) hold on the worldwide tablet market, and it grabbed a 14% share last quarter according to a report issued Thursday by IHS's iSuppli.
Although the iPad managed to hold on to a 57% share, that was down from 64% in Q3 MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 16, 2012 11:02 AM ET
Would that the iPhone's intelligent assistant were as smart as the latest TV ad suggests
Based on my experience with the iPhone 4S, Apple (AAPL) is doing something very un-Applelike in its TV ads for Siri -- over-promise and under-deliver.
Case in point: The last instruction the woman gives her voice-activated assistant in the TV ad that debuted Thursday night. "Remind me to do this again," she tells Siri on a beach MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 10, 2012 9:39 AM ET
And that percentage is likely to increase sharply now that China has the iPhone 4S
Click to enlarge. Source: Asymco.com
The chart at right from Horace Dediu's Asymco blog shows the U.S. share of iPhone activations growing last quarter due, he speculates, to the U.S. launch of the iPhone 4S and the addition of a third domestic carrier, Sprint (S).
But the long-term trend is clear. The U.S. is becoming a progressively less important MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 10, 2012 7:06 AM ET
Regained the spot that it took from Nokia in June and gave up to Samsung in September
Click to enlarge. Source: IDC
It will come as no surprise to Apple (AAPL) watchers that the company sold 37 million iPhones last quarter. Tim Cook reported that number two weeks ago.
Getting comparable figures from Apple's competitors is a different matter, and that's where companies like IDC come in. Samsung, for example, used to report MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 7, 2012 4:53 AM ET
In terms of revenue per sq. ft., think Tiffany's (its nearest rival) multiplied nearly threefold
iPhone 4S launch in Beijing. Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images
Apple Stores are always busy places, but they tend to go crazy when a major new product is launched. With the arrival of the iPhone 4S, writes Needham's Charlie Wolf in his tenth annual report on the state of Apple's (AAPL) retail empire, they went absolutely MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 5, 2012 7:35 AM ET
Apple's mobile phone shipments nearly doubled in 2011, overtaking LG and ZTE
Click to enlarge. Source: IDC
On the strength of sales of the iPhone 4S last quarter, Apple (AAPL) jumped two spots in IDC's ranking of the world's five largest manufacturers of mobile phones -- smart or otherwise.
In a press release issued Wednesday, IDC reported that weakness in the demand for so-called feature phones dragged down market growth in the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 2, 2012 8:18 AM ET
"I can't believe I bought my soul mate at Glendale Galleria."
Another triumph of product placement for Apple (AAPL). Catch it on YouTube before Time Warner (TWX) takes it down.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 29, 2012 7:01 AM ET
Retail fail: SWAT teams move in after fights break out among rival gangs of scalpers
Video via M.I.C. Gadget
There may be no graceful way to launch an iPhone in a country of 1.3 billion that has caught what one analyst calls "Apple fever."
In a frightening parody of the snaking queues that greet the launch of new Apple (AAPL) products in the U.S., thousands of would-be customers massed outside the company's MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 13, 2012 5:23 AM ET
Massive crowds gather at Apple's five stores in the world's largest mobile phone market
Outside one of Apple's Beijing stores. Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images via the Mercury News
UPDATED with amazing photos from Beijing by Feng Li via the Mercury News.
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Penn Olson's Steven Millward reports from Shanghai that crowds several city blocks long have formed outside Apple's (AAPL) stores in Beijing and Shanghai hours before the scheduled release MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 12, 2012 11:43 AM ETEvery morning, discover the companies, deals and trends in tech that are moving markets and making headlines. SUBSCRIBE
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