Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Was the iPhone’s Launch in China Really a Bust?
Apple’s internationally coveted iPhone finally arrived at market in China last week and by most accounts its debut was uncharacteristically muted. There is “no sign of the sort of sellout reception that greeted the smart phone at its introduction in other countries,” The Wall Street Journal reported. Clearly, the device’s Chinese launch wasn’t the rousing success to which we’ve become accustomed. That said, it probably wasn’t quite the bust it’s been made out to be, either.
The consolidation of the prepaid cellphone market has begun in earnest. This morning, Sprint Nextel said it will acquire Virgin Mobile USA in a $483 million stock deal that will give the company a clear lead in the prepaid arena, where low prices are becoming ever more popular with consumers beaten into submission by the continuing recession.
It’s almost as if Sprint Nextel’s postpaid customers can hardly wait for their contracts to expire so they can jump to another carrier. The troubled wireless carrier lost more than one million postpaids in the first quarter of 2009 amid fierce competition from rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
