In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published Thursday, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said quality had always been the driving force.
“We never had an objective to sell a low-cost phone,” Cook told the magazine. “Our primary objective is to sell a great phone and provide a great experience, and we figured out a way to do it at a lower cost.”
Wang Ying, a Beijing-based analyst with consultant firm iResearch said Apple appeared to have missed a trick by not reaching a deal with China Mobile — the country’s largest carrier.
Currently, Apple has sales contracts with China Unicom and China Telecom.
“Cooperating with China Mobile will be a significant channel for Apple to… win more users.”
‘Handsome boy, are you selling your phones?’
Despite their simultaneous availability in China — the first time Apple has brought the country online in the initial wave — Hong Kong’s resellers were pouncing, hoping to flip the phones for as much as double what they paid.
“Handsome boy, are you selling your phones?” a reseller was heard discreetly saying, before leading new iPhone 5S owners to the back stairs of the shopping mall to carry out the transaction.
The much-coveted gold-coloured iPhone, which resellers thought would attract a real premium in status-conscious Hong Kong, was nowhere to be found.
“I haven’t seen a gold one yet,” a reseller, who declined to give his name, told AFP an hour into the launch.
