Apple Monday announced it will begin selling the Wi-Fi iPad in China on September 17, just a little over a month after that country’s government granted the Cupertino, Calif. company permission to sell its tablet device. The quick turn-around suggests Apple wants to prevent a tide of gray marketeers which hurt earlier sales of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 in the Asian country.
The iPad will be available in China through Apple Retail Stores and authorized resellers, starting at 10 a.m., Friday September 17, the company announced. The 16GB version will sell for 3988 Chinese Yuan or $590.78. The 32GB iPad will sell for 4788 CNY or $709, while the 64GB tablet will sell for 5588 CNY or $827, Apple said.
To encourage Chinese consumers to purchase an iPad through authorized channels, Apple announced Apple retail stores will set-up the iPad’s e-mail and applications, along with offer special iPad workshops.
In Mid-August, reports surfaced that Chinese vendors were already selling iPod knock-offs. The devices ran the Android operating system, held less memory than touted, and the touch-screen interface often didn’t work properly. This followed the official introduction of the iPad in Hong Kong, where resellers were kept busy shipping the tablet device to Chinese gray market dealers. Apple has seen the gray market depress demand for the official iPhone 3G and iPhone 4.
Up to 2 million gray market iPhones were sold to subscribers of China Unicom, Apple’s official carrier in that country. Gray market sales were helped by the relative high cost of the iPhone and China’sdelay in approving a Wi-Fi version.
