The iPhone 4S continues to break sales records left and right. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S started in Hong Kong last Friday, and it’s been reported that pre-orders sold out after the first 10 minutes of availability.
Apple will launch the 4S in 14 more countries this Friday, and the smartphone is expected to reach mainland China by December.
Ticonderoga’s Brian White has said, according to industry checks, initial pre-orders for the iPhone 4S ended almost as soon as they began in Hong Kong last Friday. “Long lines and serial stock outs” are expected for the product’s official launch this weekend.
‘Hong Kong represents the first entry of the new smartphone in the rapidly growing region and we expect the 4S to reach Mainland China in December,’ White wrote. ‘We believe this rapid sell out will rest concerns surrounding the uptake of the iPhone 4S in the Greater China region that were driven by the limited language capability of Siri, which did not launch in Mandarin or Cantonese.’
Apple opened its first retail store in Hong Kong in September to a resounding welcome from the Chinese people. During its last earnings call, Apple announced $4.5 billion in revenue from Greater China, which equals a 270% year over year increase.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
16 responses to “It Took Hong Kong 10 Minutes To Run Out Of iPhone 4S Pre-Orders”
Actually it was more like 30-40 minutes, and it is worth noting that the “limit” was 10 phones per customer, not the 2 per customer that we see in many other countries. This meant the iPhone smugglers to China had a field day ordering phones and most normal customers are currently unable to obtain them, unless they want to pay the $150US premium currently being charged in Mongkok.
Wow! It was sold out in just under 10 minutes?! I think more of it is the thrill of holding it first and lording it over the others who didn’t.lools
Oh shut up.
Apple sold them. That’s all they care about. Use it as toilet paper for all they care.
And I highly doubt you sat and timed it minute by minute how long it took.
The guy on the left looks like a monkey!
Apple proves that it is the number one in making Smartphones, it is the world record i think.
so how many did they have in stock? 5? :P
I live in Hong Kong and seeing the mad craze that these products get here is actually slightly sickening. I enjoy Apple and have plenty of the products, but the people here in Hong Kong don’t tend to appreciate them for what they can do, but rather buy them because they are “name brand” and popular. On any given day on the MTR (Hong Kong’s subway system) I can be standing near 5 to 8 people with an iPhone or iPad. It’s gotten to the point where it is quite refreshing to see a phone that ISN’T Apple.
The market is saturated with Apple due to a few reasons: the people who like and appreciate the products, the people who buy it because of the name, and the people who sell them for 10 times the price in Mainland China. When the iPad 2 came out in the USA, I saw them in Mong Kok for sale nearly the next day for around HK$14,000, which is close to US$2,000.
Hong Kong is a place that I always think that if a huge name brand that is in style and popular, say Armani, made a computer, no matter how crappy it is, people here would buy it and make a point to use it and display it to the world as a flaunt of status or popularity.
Everyone in Hong Kong knows the 10 minute story is bogus. http://micgadget.com/17413/iph…