Why isn’t the iPhone 6 released in China yet?
Recently, Apple’s iPhone 6 was launched, however it has not yet been released in China due to certain restrictions. Upon first hearing this news, I found it ironic and very interesting that even though the new iPhones were manufactured in China, it was not licensed to enter the Chinese market upon release. In the articles below, it is explained that a network license must be granted before the iPhone 6 can be sold in China and it is only “suggested” that the iPhone 6 will come out in China in 2015. Generally, there are multiple “speculations” from domestic media sources.
This delayed launch could be bad for the business’ reputation because, since Apple has not publicly addressed the issue and information has been vague, consumers may begin to question their products. There are such high amounts of uncertainty that to me, this seems very suspicious. China’s regulators have described iPhone’s as a “threat to national security” earlier this year; certain ethical, security, privacy issues could be in discussion.
Apparently, this could also be a marketing strategy to increase excitement for it’s release. However, it seems illogical as the Chinese market is one of the most important to Apple. I believe it would also be quite pointless as the Chinese would find other ways to obtain the iPhone 6, as they are already doing so. When the iPhone 6 does come out in China, the projected sales may be a lot lower due to this situation; it would be assumed most consumers want to join in on the trend of having a new iPhone 6 at it’s release. Hence, this delay definitely not being an act of Apple itself, turns heads towards to the external environment.
Resources: