www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Business / Companies

Sales curbs to hit gray market for latest iPhone

By Wei Wei in New York (China Daily) Updated: 2012-09-21 10:31

Purchase restrictions that Apple Inc has placed on its latest iPhone are likely to have a major impact on unauthorized resellers when the devices go on sale on Friday.

When orders for the iPhone 5 began to be accepted in Hong Kong on Thursday, only two Apple retail stores in the city were selling them to customers selected by "an online reservation system".

Sales curbs to hit gray market for latest iPhone

With the release of the iPhone 5, Apple appears to be more determined to crack down on unauthorized reselling. [Photo/China Daily] 

Those allowed to buy either an "unlocked" iPhone - one that's not tied to any specific carrier's network - or one with a subscription contract could decide to have the device delivered or to pick it up at one of the two stores on Friday. But before they could complete their purchases, they also had to produce a government-issued ID, resellers said.

That requirement is likely to prove irksome to those who work in the so-called gray market, in which goods are sold legally but through unofficial channels. Since Wednesday, many resellers have been paying surrogate buyers to line up outside the stores, where they are to purchase the devices that will eventually be sold again on the gray market.

An unlocked iPhone has long been a popular item on the gray market, especially in countries where the latest Apple devices aren't for sale immediately after their introduction. With the release of the iPhone 5, Apple appears to have become more determined to crack down on unauthorized reselling.

Hong Kong will be a testing ground for the company's methods.

A reseller who didn't provide his name said he has found 200 people who want work for him as buyers. The ones he selects for that work can receive as much as 500 yuan ($80) after they provide him an iPhone they bought with his money.

He said his "boss" hopes to find 1,000 buyers by Friday.

He predicted that a 16 gigabyte, unlocked iPhone 5 will cost more than 7,000 yuan on the gray market. The device's official retail price in Hong Kong is HK$5,588 ($721).

On the first day iPhone 4S could be ordered in Hong Kong, more than 1,500 people could be seen lining up outside an Apple store in the city. At about the same time, the device was going for HK$10,500 on the gray market.

In Canada, which also has a large gray market for unlocked iPhones, resellers were caught off guard by a new system that requires would-be purchasers of the devices to use a specially designated Apple ID and a credit card to order them before they go to the store to pick them up. A single customer can buy no more than two of the devices.

"We didn't expect it," another reseller said. "Neither did a lot of resellers and customers. Luckily, we succeeded in ordering some unlocked ones, but I'm afraid many people will have to wait until the next release."

Apple's latest devices usually are put up for sale on the Chinese market months after they come out in North America, forcing Chinese customers to pay a premium for them on the gray market.

Xiao Mei, who runs a Los Angeles company that takes electronics and luxury goods that were bought in the United States and sells them in the Chinese mainland, said he had received more than 1,000 orders for iPhone from resellers and about 30 from individual users within five days of the device's introduction.

Xiao said he plans to resell a 16-gigabyte unlocked iPhone 5 for 6,000 yuan, a price that takes into account taxes, the commission he charges and shipping costs. He said he can avoid paying customs duties by sending the devices to Hong Kong and then hiring people to bring them to the mainland.

"The gray market is vulnerable to changes in policies, such as increases in tax rates and changes in postal restrictions," he said. "The iPhone is still the most profitable consumer electronics device, although the days when people earned 1,000 yuan from reselling one have passed."

Apple remains the producer of the best-selling advanced smartphone in China, although its market share is shrinking.

The research firm International Data Corp forecasts that the country wisll overtake the US to become the world's No 1 market for smartphones by the end of 2012.

The two Chinese mobile companies that are authorized to carry the iPhone 5, China Unicom Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd, have said they'll begin offering the device within the next three months.

China Daily

Hot Topics

Editor's Picks
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 中文字幕亚洲精品久久 | 三级网址免费 | 日韩精品a在线视频 | 天码毛片一区二区三区入口 | 亚洲精品久久一区毛片 | 手机看片久久国产免费不卡 | 欧美三级在线视频 | 欧美成人高清性色生活 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片鸭王 一级做a爰全过程免费视频毛片 | 全免费a级毛片免费看视频免 | 亚洲欧美在线不卡 | 爱啪网亚洲第一福利网站 | 日本精品一在线观看视频 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片看看 一级做a爰片久久毛片鸭王 | 三级伦理网站 | 久久精品国产亚洲a | 成人国产视频在线观看 | 91九色首页 | 亚洲精品国产一区二区在线 | 久久99爱视频 | 国产女女视屏免费 | 婷婷色综合久久五月亚洲 | 久久精品国产99久久香蕉 | 日本特黄特色视频 | 92精品国产成人观看免费 | 另类二区三四 | 国产成人综合自拍 | 精品欧美一区二区三区四区 | 美女视频免费永久观看的 | 欧美在线一区二区三区不卡 | 美女张开腿让男人桶下面 | 国产乱子精品免费视观看片 | 色噜噜狠狠大色综合 | 成人午夜性a一级毛片美女 成人午夜亚洲影视在线观看 | 久久久久久久久久久福利观看 | 久久久一级 | 国产精品视频99 | 欧美精品久久天天躁 | 中文字幕一区二区三区在线观看 | 免费观看a级毛片在线播放 免费观看a级网站 | 国产福利片在线 易阳 |