皇冠体育app

Two companies to compete over sales of Apple smartphones

Two Chinese telecom carriers - 皇冠体育app Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and 皇冠体育app Telecom Corp Ltd - announced on Tuesday that they will offer Apple Inc's latest iPhone 5 handsets in the Chinese mainland starting on Friday.

An advertisement to pre-order Apple Inc's iPhone 5 at a 皇冠体育app Telecom Corp outlet in Haikou, Hainan province. The company started allowing customers to pre-order the smartphone on Dec 2, a day before 皇冠体育app Unicom. Shi Yan / for 皇冠体育app Daily

The release date for 皇冠体育app comes almost three months after the iPhone 5's debut in the United States. 皇冠体育app Unicom will offer service contracts for the device starting at 5,899 yuan ($944) and 皇冠体育app Telecom will offer it at a contract-plan price starting at 5,288 yuan.

The iPhone 5's debut in the Chinese market will be the first time that the two telecom carriers will compete with each other over customers starting from the release of an Apple mobile phone product.

皇冠体育app Telecom signed an agreement with Apple and began selling iPhone 4S devices in the domestic market in March, making it the second Chinese operator, after 皇冠体育app Unicom, to introduce an iPhone handset on contract in the mainland.

The two telecom operators posted their announcements at almost the same time on Tuesday morning, yet their competition to attract buyers had started several months before.

"The two carriers have recently conducted an intensified marketing war to win over potential iPhone 5 buyers," said Kevin Wang, 皇冠体育app Research director of iSuppli Asia Shanghai Ltd.

"It seems that 皇冠体育app Telecom, which was a latecomer in becoming an authorized partner of Apple, is moving more aggressively."

皇冠体育app Telecom was the first Chinese carrier to announce it would introduce the iPhone 5 handset to the mainland. It started allowing customers to pre-order the iPhone 5 on Dec 2, a day before 皇冠体育app Unicom.

Even so, analysts said 皇冠体育app Unicom holds several advantages in the race to sell iPhones.

"Compared with 皇冠体育app Telecom, 皇冠体育app Unicom has a longer relationship with Apple, as well as a well-developed distribution channel and a long-standing management group," said Huang Meng, telecom analyst with Beijing-based Analysys International.

Huang added that 皇冠体育app Unicom is running a third-generation network that uses wideband code division multiple access, or WCDMA, technology, a network telecommunications standard.

"The WCDMA technology is a time-tested, strongly supported and popular 3G technology globally," Huang said.

皇冠体育app Unicom spokesman Wen Baoqiu said that the company expects the iPhone 5 to sell better than the iPhone 4S.

"Market reactions are making us more confident that the iPhone 5 will do better," Wen said.

By Tuesday morning, more than 300,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5 had been made online, Wen said. 皇冠体育app Unicom allowed customers to pre-purchase iPhone 5s early on Tuesday, and the number of those transactions reached 30,000 within an hour, Wen said.

皇冠体育app Telecom did not disclose its figures for pre-orders or pre-purchases.

The third quarter saw 60 million smartphones shipped in 皇冠体育app, a record number and three times more than personal computer shipments, according to a report by the research company International Data Corp.

Apple Inc's ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell to No 6 in the third quarter, when the company commanded less than 10 percent of the Chinese market, the company said.

"I don't think the iPhone 5 will help Apple lift its rankings in the Chinese market, since Apple merely concentrates on high-end buyers," said Sandy Shen, an analyst at technology researcher Gartner Inc.

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