China Mobile has started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, but the response is not what Apple was expecting.
Apple officially announced in December that the company had entered into a partnership with the world's biggest wireless carrier, China Mobile. The Apple and China Mobile deal was rumored for a very long time and analysts estimate that Apple will benefit from the deal and grab a major chunk of the Chinese smartphone market. Analysts predicted that the deal will add around $10 billion annually to Apple's revenue while also adding 15-20 million iPhone subscribers to the carrier's 760 million subscriber base.
However, it seems that the initial demand for iPhones via China Mobile is not what Apple and the carrier were expecting. Wedge Partners suggests that China Mobile had received around 100,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c during the first two days of availability.
The estimated number of pre-orders taken by China Mobile is far less than what rival carriers managed when the latest iPhones were first launched in September 2013. China Unicom received pre-orders of 120,000 iPhones and China Telecom was able to take 150,000 pre-orders for the latest Apple smartphones.
Analysts predict that Apple may be able to sell around 38 million new iPhones in 2014. However, till now the initial response at China Mobile, which will start selling the latest iPhones from Jan. 17 onwards, seems lukewarm.
"What's important to remember is these phones launched in September," Wedge analyst Brian Blair said. "Now here we are several months later and there's no subsidy being offered that's so special that the preorders are off the charts. If this had been in September when the phone launched globally, I think the numbers would be a lot higher."
Apple will hope that the response for its latest smartphones available from China Mobile improves in the coming weeks before the handsets finally hits the carrier's shelves.
