China Unicom has announced it has sold 100,000 iPhones since its launch on October 30 – a figure dwarfed by sales initial sales in other major markets.
By contrast, the first-generation iPhone sold 270,000 units in its first day of sales in the US in 2007, and latest model iPhone 3G S topped the 1 million mark after just three days. In Korea, carrier partner KT pre-sold 60,000 handsets prior to launch.
Demand has been muted by the availability of gray market iPhones and low-priced knockoffs since the device was launched two years ago.
The operator signed up more than 1 million 3G subscribers in October, during its first month of 3G operations, and has over 143 million mobile subscribers overall. The company offers the iPhone in 285 cities across China on its W-CDMA network.
CEO Chang Xiaobing said the sales push had been a “success”, but denied reports that it had ordered 5 million iPhones ahead of the October launch.