Cupertino is once again shifting supply ratios of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus due to higher-than-expected demand for the larger handset, according to a new report.
The source of the increased demand this time? China, where the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus recently went on sale following a massive 20 million reported preorders.
The Chinese authorities are staging a “man-in-the-middle” attack on Apple’s iCloud service in an attempt to steal username and password information, according to anti-censorship watchdog group GreatFire.org.
As per Wikipedia, a man-in-the-middle attack “is a form of active eavesdropping in which the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them, making them believe that they are talking directly to each other over a private connection, when in fact the entire conversation is controlled by the attacker.”
GreatFire.org first noticed the apparent attack when it became aware of the fact that certain connections made to Apple’s iCloud site in China no longer responded with a trusted digital certificate, thereby risking decryption.
Shanghai’s #Unicom store offers alteration service to enlarge pants’ pockets so to fit #iphone6 pic.twitter.com/uvjuTskGcn
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) October 17, 2014
Is your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus just too big for your skinny jeans? You’re not alone: a store in China is actually keeping a tailor on hand to enlarge pants for customers who can’t fit their new smartphones in their pockets.
When Tim Cook took time out of yesterday’s iPad and iMac keynote to discuss just how excited he was about the iPhone 6 coming to China, he wasn’t kidding: the market Cook has previously said could one day overtake the U.S. has been going iPhone crazy.
Having been made available for preorder on October 10, today marks the first day in which the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are available for (authorized) sale in China, being made available on all three major networks.
Apple is bringing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to 36 new countries by the end of this month. The Cupertino company today confirmed that the devices will be available in Monaco on October 17 — the same day they go on sale in China and India — and then in Israel on October 23.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus may have shattered preorder records in the U.S. and elsewhere with a massive 4 million units reservations, but that’s apparently nothing compared to China.
Having had its arrival in China delayed to a lack of regulatory approval, preorders for the iPhone 6 family of devices have reportedly hit 20 million in the country since officially being made available on Friday.
Update: Initial reports claim that China’s top three wireless carriers have already accepted 1 million iPhone 6 orders in the first six hours of availability alone.
Apple’s initial failure to secure regulatory approval for its next-gen handsets means it’s been a harder than expected slog for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to make it into China through official channels.
Today, however, marks the occasion on which the iPhone 6 family of devices officially became available for pre-order in China, ahead of the handsets landing in stores Friday, October 17.
“We are thrilled to bring iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to our customers in China on all three carriers at launch,” Tim Cook said in an official Apple statement. “With support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus customers will have access to high-speed mobile networks from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom for an incredible experience.”
Apple has made it obvious that it’s making a big fashion play with the Apple Watch.
After inviting the fashion industry press to the product’s unveiling and staging a one-day showing during Paris Fashion Week, the Apple Watch is getting its own Vogue cover. Well, Vogue China, to be specific.
China may be getting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus a little later than many parts of the world, but that doesn’t seem to have slowed down demand any.
Ever since being made available for preorder late last week, upwards of 4.85 million iPhone 6 family handsets have reportedly been ordered, according to the Chinese live tracking website JD.com.
Forget those ridiculous rumors that the huge quantities of smuggled handsets had all but killed iPhone 6 interest in China! According to new reports coming out of China, both retailers and carriers have taken in a massive 2 million reservations just six hours after putting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on earlier-than-expected pre-order.
It was previously announced that customers would be able to place orders for the iPhone on Friday, October 10, with the devices finally going on sale one week later on October 17.
However, that edict appears to have been ignored, since all three major Chinese carriers — including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom — are already taking orders.
As thousands of protesters flood the streets of Hong Kong demanding a democratic election, the Chinese government is reportedly using sophisticated malware to spy on not only Android devices, but iOS devices as well.
But don’t worry about China peeking at your Snapchats. There has yet to be a widespread instance of iOS malware in the wild, and this particularly “advanced” trojan still requires a tremendous amount of complicit behavior on the victim’s part.
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will officially be available to pre-order in China from Friday, October 10, ahead of their launch a week later, Apple has confirmed. The news comes just hours after the Cupertino company’s new smartphones finally received approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Due to challenges receiving regulatory approval, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has yet to make it into China through official channels.
That’s not enough to stop the New York Times running a story claiming that scalpers have already exhausted demand for Apple’s next gen handsets in the country that may one day overtake the U.S. in terms of iPhone sales, however.
The article notes that, despite the fact that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will not officially go on sale for a few weeks (October 10, according to a leaked memo), the gray market has “already dried up” — with wholesalers who smuggled tens of thousands of iPhones into the country being forced to “[slash] prices to move inventory.”
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is a 10 million unit selling wrecking ball — and Samsung is running scared.
Trying to boost its falling mobile sales, Samsung announced on Wednesday that its new Galaxy Note 4 smartphone will go on sale in China and South Korea as early as this Friday, with the handset available on all mobile carriers in both countries by the end of the month.
For those keeping track, that’s before much of the rest of the world, including the U.S.
Why are China and South Korea getting Samsung’s flagship handset before nearly everyone else? Because the iPhone 6 isn’t available in these markets yet, which has caused a mad dash for the South Korean company to try and get in there first — particularly since the massive iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has now neutralized Samsung’s big-screen differentiator.
The iPhone 6 may be on the verge of officially going on sale in China, according to a top government regulator speaking on Tuesday.
As one of Apple’s most promising markets (which may one day even overtake the U.S. in terms of sales), the disappointing lack of iPhone 6 in China was the result of Apple incurring challenges receiving regulatory approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
SAN FRANCISCO — Since Apple won’t be selling the iPhone 6 in China for some time, early buyers of the smartphone have an opportunity to make a quick profit by reselling the hot handset on the gray market.
The first 50 people in line at Apple’s San Francisco store this morning appeared to be iPhone resellers — a pattern that seems to be have been repeated worldwide on the first day of iPhone 6 sales.
Apple may be halfway there when it comes to receiving the necessary regulatory approval for the iPhone 6 to go on sale in China.
As per China’s official Xinhua news agency, Apple has now received regulatory approval for the iPhone 6’s use on domestic frequencies, although it requires one other “critical license” before it is able to go on sale.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apple’s delayed entry into China with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is the result of a disagreement with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which tests all new phones before they may enter national telecom networks.
Massive iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders mean that Apple fans in India are going to have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on the company’s next generation handsets.
Originally Apple said that the iPhone 6 family of devices would go on sale September 26, only for that date to quickly slip to October 17, and now again back to mid-November.
Apple’s expansion into China is one of the biggest stories of 2014, which is why it’s a surprise to hear that the company’s long-awaited iPhone 6 may not be available there at all this year.
According to a Bloomberg report — citing Chinese business paper 21st Century Herald — the delay is the result of Apple failing to come to an agreement with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The New York Times had previously reported that the iPhone 6 was being held up due to lack of approval from Chinese regulators.
Tools like hands-free kits and Siri might mean that you don’t have to have your face constantly buried in your iPhone, but for most people the reality is that using a smartphone suggests your focus is not entirely on the real world around you.
Tackling this problem head-on is a place called Foreigner Street in Chongqing city, China, which has installed a special walking lane for smartphone users — just as might be the case with a cycle lane elsewhere.
Apple is growing like wildfire in China, and Tim Cook expects the country to eventually overtake the US as his company’s largest market.
That’s why it’s a big deal that Apple has delayed the launch of its new iPhones in China. No explanation has been provided to carriers, although it’s suspected that there are still hurdles to overcome in gaining regulatory approval from the government.
Steve Jobs and his reality distortion field are no longer with us for epic keynotes and marketing blitzes, but an Apple reseller in China has come up with the next best thing: an Steve Jobs wax statue touting the iPhone 5s and Beats headphones.
The Jobs statue was spotted at an Apple Store on Taiyuan Street in Shenyang, China earlier this week by Xinhuanet, and they’ve got all the details right from the Levi 501’s, New Balance 991’s, and the trademark black turtleneck.
We’ve seen a number of Steve Jobs statues and memorials since his passing in 2011, but this is the first time we’ve seen one luring in potential Apple customers.
Here’s a look at the full display:
Apple is now using China Telecom’s servers instead of its own to power iCloud for Chinese customers. The switch took place on August 8th, and now the carrier is Apple’s only cloud service provider in China.
The decision is likely a direct response to the Chinese state-controlled media recently lashing out at Apple over national security concerns.
Apple has donated 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) to support relief efforts in China following the major earthquake in the country’s Yunnan Province earlier this week.
The 6.5-magnitude earthquake is the worst disaster to have hit the area in a century, and resulted in the deaths of 615 people. A further 2,400 were injured in the quake, while rescuers have evacuated 230,000 further people, who are now displaced from their home.
Apple has updated its Chinese homepage to reflect the disaster, and Tim Cook personally sent out an email to Apple employees noting that the company is eager to hit with relief efforts.
It may dominate 80 percent of China’s high-end smartphone market, but one place Apple’s not racking up supporters or sales is in the Chinese government.
In fact, according to a new list drawn up by the country’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, Apple products are persona non grata when it comes to high tech devices that public money is allowed to be spent on.
The reason is security concerns, in the wake of increased fears about hacking and cyberspying. “When the government stops the procurement of products, it sends a signal to corporates and semi-government bodies,” says Mark Po, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The Chinese government wants to make sure that overseas companies shouldn’t have too much influence in China.”
