The iPhone was released by Apple in 2007, and has single handily revolutionized the whole smartphone industry. With over 110 million units of iPhone’s sold worldwide including regions such as Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand only listing a few. One Major market Apple failed to provide tough competition in the smartphone industry is China. However, in the past year since Apple released the iPhone and iPad, sales from the region has grown by nearly 600%.
Reports from Wall Street Journal, have suggested Apple plans to release 2 versions of the iPhone in China, the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4s by October. This suggests the iPhone will be also be released in Australia by October.
China operates on its own 3G standards, called the ‘TD-SCDMA’ which was not compatible with generic models of the iPhone. However, the iPhone 3GS and 4 were available in China from two carriers; China Unicorn and China Telecom. They were specially modified to be compatible with the Chinese network. China Unicorn and China Telecom, have a combined market share of 30% of the 850 million mobile users.
With the release of the 4G network in China, this has opened the doors for Apple who has has been reportedly negotiating a deal with China Telecom for the release of the new iPhone 5. Reports from Digitimes, have suggested a deal is imminent and could be finalised within the next few weeks. This would potentially allow Apple to target the 600 million subscribers of China Telecom.
According to Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities, the other iPhone 4s, would be a cheaper version, specifically targeting the other 30% of the Chinese market. The cheaper version would possess a slight upgrade from the current iPhone 4. This would allow Apple to have close to 100% penetration of the Chinese telecommunication market. Provided there are 2 versions of the iPhone being released, analysts from Goldman Saches and JP Morgan have estimated it would generate US$70 – 200 billion in short term revenue for Apple.
The Apple-China Telecom partnership will also benefit China Telecom. Analyst from HSBC has suggested the release of the iPhone 5 would increase the company’s smartphone market share from 32% to 52%. The expected revenue the iPhone release would bring China Telecom is in excess of $30 billion.
In Australia, we should be looking forward to a single version of the iPhone as the Australia telecommunications network is globally compatible. However, it would not be surprising to see iphone fanatics try to make the other iphone models compatible with the Australian network.
Source iphone5review.com.au
