Pre-orders for Hong Kong iPhone 4S sell out in 10 minutes
updated 11:10 am EST, Mon November 7, 2011
Lack of local Siri support may not be issue
Pre-orders for the Hong Kong version of the iPhone 4S sold out in a space of 10 minutes, says Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White. The option became available this weekend, but was reportedly instantly swamped with buyers. Some iPhones should still be available for this Friday's launch, but only after waiting in line at a first- or third-party outlet.
"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," says White. The 4S is not yet available in mainland China, but is expected to launch there in the next several months. By that point Apple may have Siri functioning in local dialects; Apple has promised to expand the technology sometime in 2012.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
Sold out - but not by direct customers
The iphone was sold out there in 10 minutes but it is slightly misleading. Turns out that unbelievably there was no limit on how many you could buy so the first few people at the beginning of the line hoarded up all of the allocated stock. There were people buying 10+ iphones per person which was going to the gray market (probably up to mainland China). So the regular Hong Kong citizens got only a very small quantity and the rest heading over the boarder.
Apple should have seen this coming and limited the quantities of 1 or 2 per person like they do in the states.