Following the iPad mini's debut in China a week earlier and the iPhone 5 arrival in South Korea, Apple today like a clockwork started sales of the iPhone 5 in China. While the handset is scheduled to launch in an additional 31 markets on Friday, including Russia, China is the top priority. Home to population of 1.33 billion people, China is a huge opportunity for the California-based company.
The company has only a few stores in China, but the country now accounts for fifteen percent of Apple's fiscal 2011 revenue, second only to US.
Monday, China Unicom announced more than 300,000 pre-orders for the device and rival China Telecom is thought to have similar figures. Unfortunately, China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, will once again be sitting on the sidelines, thought its president is adamant that the iPhone deal is in the works.
Hopefully the iPhone 5 launch in China will help recover some of market share losses Apple suffered during the third quarter over an avalanche of inexpensive Android handsets and local brands...