The iPhone 4S has done incredibly well worldwide, and China isn’t exempt from that. In fact, Apple is surprised at the intense demand:
Apple Inc. underestimated the “staggering” demand for the iPhone 4S when it started sales in China this month, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said. “We thought we were betting bold,” Cook said about sales of the device in China on a conference call yesterday. “We didn’t bet high enough.”
Last week, we reported that the iPhone 4S is likely coming to China’s third largest cell network, and clearly that is a result of the pent up demand. China, like the rest of the world, just can’t get enough cowbell iPhone.
Interestingly, Tim Cook and the executive team at Apple clearly knew China would be a substantial market, but didn’t predict the demand would outstrip supply so heavily right off the bat. They’re ramping up production as fast as possible, and we’re pretty sure Cook is determined not to leave any money on the table in China:
The company sold 5.6 million iPhones in China during the first nine months of last year, making it the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the country in the third quarter, according to Stamford, Connecticut-based research company Gartner Inc.
Those numbers show the iPhone 4 was very successful in China, but the 4S clearly took the ball, and knocked it out of the park. We can’t wait to see how the 4S sells throughout 2012.
Source: BusinessWeek
