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Hopes for iPhone 4S tie-up to be a winner
By Zhu Shenshen |
February 22, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA Telecom will sell Apple's iPhone 4S on the Chinese mainland next month in what both companies hope will be a win-win arrangement.
Apple hopes that tying up with a new telco partner will help it increase distribution channels and further boost sales in the world's biggest mobile phone market with more than 900 million users, analysts said.
China Telecom, the No. 3 mobile carrier in the country, expects the arrangement to help it catch up with bigger rivals China Mobile and China Unicom in the high-end mobile phone market. But the telco, now the second firm to offer the iPhone 4S on the mainland, may see its profit erode in the short term because of high subsidies for the iPhone.
China Telecom will start sale of the iPhone 4S running on its CDMA network on March 9. Users can get a free 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S when they sign a two-year contract with a service plan at 389 yuan (US$62) a month. A three-year plan will cost users 289 yuan per month, the carrier said yesterday.
The carrier will reveal more details and accept orders from March 2 .
"The iPhone 4S has been an incredible hit with customers around the world," Apple China said in a statement. "We're thrilled to be launching iPhone 4S with China Telecom and can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers in China."
Linking up with China Telecom is expected to attract 2 million to 4 million new iPhone users.
China Telecom expects "short-term pressure on its profitability" as it make an "appropriate increase in marketing initiatives in connection with iPhone sales," the telco said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, without providing figures.
China Unicom, which is now the sole carrier partner of Apple for the iPhone on the mainland, started to sell the smartphone in October 2009 and the latest 4S model in January. It has not revealed its iPhone user base but it's estimated to sell 3 million iPhones this year.
In January, the mobile phone subscribers in China grew 1.2 percent monthly to 987.58 million, the country's three operators said on Monday.
China Unicom said mobile subscribers rose to 202.89 million, including 43.07 million 3G users. China Telecom's user base rose to 129.25 million, including 38.7 million 3G users. There are no figures for China Mobile, the No. 1 carrier.
Apple hopes that tying up with a new telco partner will help it increase distribution channels and further boost sales in the world's biggest mobile phone market with more than 900 million users, analysts said.
China Telecom, the No. 3 mobile carrier in the country, expects the arrangement to help it catch up with bigger rivals China Mobile and China Unicom in the high-end mobile phone market. But the telco, now the second firm to offer the iPhone 4S on the mainland, may see its profit erode in the short term because of high subsidies for the iPhone.
China Telecom will start sale of the iPhone 4S running on its CDMA network on March 9. Users can get a free 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S when they sign a two-year contract with a service plan at 389 yuan (US$62) a month. A three-year plan will cost users 289 yuan per month, the carrier said yesterday.
The carrier will reveal more details and accept orders from March 2 .
"The iPhone 4S has been an incredible hit with customers around the world," Apple China said in a statement. "We're thrilled to be launching iPhone 4S with China Telecom and can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers in China."
Linking up with China Telecom is expected to attract 2 million to 4 million new iPhone users.
China Telecom expects "short-term pressure on its profitability" as it make an "appropriate increase in marketing initiatives in connection with iPhone sales," the telco said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, without providing figures.
China Unicom, which is now the sole carrier partner of Apple for the iPhone on the mainland, started to sell the smartphone in October 2009 and the latest 4S model in January. It has not revealed its iPhone user base but it's estimated to sell 3 million iPhones this year.
In January, the mobile phone subscribers in China grew 1.2 percent monthly to 987.58 million, the country's three operators said on Monday.
China Unicom said mobile subscribers rose to 202.89 million, including 43.07 million 3G users. China Telecom's user base rose to 129.25 million, including 38.7 million 3G users. There are no figures for China Mobile, the No. 1 carrier.
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