Mav
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Post by Mav on Mar 20, 2014 12:35:00 GMT -8
My dad just got the 5S from China Mobile yesterday. Apparently they recently started a promotion whereby you pay RMB4,200 (~$700 USD) (rough numbers since we spoke over the phone and he ran me through it briefly to see if it was a good deal or not) upfront and enter a 3-year contract in which you must spend at a minimum RMB288 a month on your phone bill over the life of the contract which he does anyway per month and is already a C.M. customer. After the end of the 3 year contract, you get your RMB4,200 back. So 3 years x $288 = $10,368 - $4,200 = $6,168. Not accounting for currency fluctuation or inflation, you spend ~$1,000 for the phone and 3 years worth of phone bills which isn't so bad considering an average phone costs $4,000 in China alone. Anywho, I thought it was interesting. He dropped his old iPhone in the airport toilet but it was time for an upgrade. (: To clarify, you mean deposit aside it's $333/yr. US to have an iPhone 5S on China Mobile? Wow. #totallyunattainable #appleisdoomed How many subscribers in the US wish they had that kinda deal...
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JDSoCal
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Aspiring oligarch
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Post by JDSoCal on Mar 20, 2014 16:11:15 GMT -8
So how many 3G phones did CHL sell in February? And what percentage of them were iPhones? 98% of their network is not 4G. They have untold millions of iPhones running on 2G. I swear, the Malaysian government's plane search efforts are more reliable and transparent than smartphone sales data. Edit: Reuters: "China Mobile also said it plans to sell 100 million 4G devices and have 50 million 4G users by the end of the year" Apple Insider: "China Mobile added 14 million 3G customers in January and 10 million in February." You think those were all Galaxy S4's? Well, we ARE gradually getting to the point where new iPhone users on China Mobile will be mostly "official". Tim Cook said last CC that iPhones were only launching in those cities with new TD-LTE service. So in theory, iPhones will only ever show up in the new "4G" category of China Mobile's monthly subscriber data, even if a few over-eager local stores jump the gun somehow. And going forward, every 4G-capable handset should show up in that column. Since China Mobile is highly motivated to move its userbase to 4G, that's the battleground that matters now. It's just the one month, but ~75% "4G share" isn't too shabby, considering the just-as-new Note 3 is also sold on China Mobile (so skeptics just can't say, "this is only because iPhone just launched"): service.bj.10086.cn/mobile/164185.html...heck, this might actually be a harbinger of more pain for Samsung, considering the Note 3 is hardly the only other 4G handset alternative on China Mobile... EDIT: Quick note - iPhones were available starting Jan. 17 on China Mobile www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/12/22China-Mobile-Apple-Bring-iPhone-to-China-Mobiles-4G-3G-Networks-on-January-17-2014.htmlBut there isn't anything to stop someone from buying the phones in one of those 4G stores, and using it elsewhere in PRC. I mean, if there was a Chinese grey market in phones bought at US Apple Stores, surely it would be that much easier to buy actual China Mobile-enabled phones and sell them all over the country for eager beavers to use them on 3G until 4G comes on line...
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Mar 20, 2014 16:50:56 GMT -8
I wonder how China Mobile would count that one...
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