Reuters is reporting that Apple has now received one of the two licences needed to allow it to sell the iPhone 6 in China. There is no word yet on the second licence required before the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can be launched in this hugely important market.
Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 received regulatory approval for use on domestic frequencies but still requires one more critical licence before it may be sold in the country, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday […]
Apple still needs to obtain a critical network access licence for the iPhone, after which sales may begin, Xinhua said …
The iPhone 5s and 5c last year launched in China on the same day as in the U.S., but Apple is said to have told Chinese carriers not to expect the iPhone 6/Plus to be available tomorrow. A major Chinese business paper yesterday claimed that the new handsets would not go on sale in China until next year, but the reliability of this source is questionable.
Striking last year’s deal with China’s largest carrier, China Mobile, was a key step for Apple, enabling it to dramatically expand its sales in the world’s most populous country. While a delay launching the iPhone 6 in China will hurt Apple in the short-term, its medium-term prospects are unlikely to be greatly affected – and it may at least help the company keep pace with demand.
The iPhone 6 Plus went to 3-4 week delivery almost immediately when pre-orders opened, Apple announcing a record 4 million pre-orders across the two new models in the first 24 hours.
Photo credit: South China Morning Post
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And it’s all about negotiating the kickbacks to the Communist Party … as we all know.
Ah, you beat me to it. Regulatory approval kind of looks like a suitcase full of cash. Or a check with more zeros than a typical one.
Bribe right people, Apple.
Like south Korea, “Xiaomi” phones is their counter part of Apple iPhone, they have all rights to “delay” the sales in China because the country have all rights to protect their prioritized intellectual property, in minor sense, Import tax; or to extreme, banding the products at all.
The irony is not about “China delay in selling the product”, it is all about politics and insults. When Apple announced the “places” of first launch, it mentioned “Hong Kong”, well, first, Hong Kong is not a country, second, how come Hong Kong gets to sell before China, I mean, to Chinese tradition, always the masters (China is masters of Hong Kong if you look at this way) gets first. Thirdly, Even Taiwan have a launch day (Sep 26). This is kinda triple insult to the Mainland Chinese (high ranked) people.
Politics, yes,
Regulatory problem, I don’t think so.
I don’t see there is a problem there, it is all about protecting their own country thingy. But one thing clear is that it created a black market of reselling iPhone back to Mainland for sure, is this good or bad? Cannot judge but certainly not nice to see peoples sleeping outside of Apple store for couple days, it simply not nice, not even for those who are true Apple fanboys and girls.