China mostly unstirred by new iPhones – corporate

With the dust having settled on the latest iPhone unveilings, it is time to evaluate the impact.

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http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/11/china-mostly-unstirred-by-new-iphones
With the dust having settled on the latest iPhone unveilings, it is time to evaluate the impact.

And in China, the world’s largest smartphone market and where Apple is aiming its cheaper model, it was disappointment.

The iPhone 5C did not appear in the list of top searches on China’s most widely used microblogging service, Sina Weibo.

Technology blogger and author Wang Fei said many there think it is just too expensive: “Buying an older generation mobile phone for nearly US$730, I’d have to be crazy. It’s a bit surprising. There’s nothing new and there’s nothing about its Chinese partners coming to the event to talk about the contract price of the phone. That’s what was disappointing. Apple has made some progress in the China market but that progress has been too little.”

On the streets of Beijing the reaction to the new technology and range of colours was mixed.

“I am quite looking forward to the new iPhones, especially the covers,” said one Beijing resident. “You know the cover for the iPhone 5 was not very good, and I heard this time they’ve all got coloured covers ready for customers to choose from.”

“To be frank, I don’t see too many changes with Apple phones, so I won’t be crazy about it,” said another. “You know there is little difference between the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4, and you can see there is not much difference between the new designs and the old ones.”

In Japan, the die hard fans could be relied on to start queuing outside the company’s Tokyo flagship store one week before the new handsets go on sale, but on Wall Street Apple’s shares fell over five percent on Wednesday after a four percent decline on Tuesday.

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