苹果公司(Apple)在12月16日宣布，中国用户对于 iPhone 5 的反应热烈，上市三天内即已售出超过200万部了，这似乎让许多人对于中国智能手机消费用户的庞大胃口感到震惊。媒体纷纷以“iPhones 5在中国销售创新高纪录”的醒目头条大肆报导。
有关苹果公司的种种新闻总是众所目的焦点，然而近来大多数的报导似乎直指同一方向──或多或少地暗示着即使乔布斯(Steve Jobs)去世了，苹果可没有！它并未因此而失去其魔力。
值得注意的，发布任何产品上市前三天的销售资料可不是苹果以前会做的事。苹果CEO库克(Tim Cook)在一份声明中说，这次的销售表现“创下了 iPhone 在中国首销周末三日的最佳成绩。”
过去三个月来，苹果公司股 票已经下滑超过25%了。因此，当上周 iPhone 5 在中国一开卖，引来一些负面报导指出中国苹果专卖店外几近冷清的情况后，库克势必感到必须说些振奋人心的话。
因此，让我们揭开苹果 iPhone 5 在中国销售的神秘面纱一窥究竟：
1. 苹果专卖店的客流量：在中国共有七家苹果专卖店，但这并不是衡量中国消费者是否喜好 iPhone 的唯一指针。
毕竟，苹果还建置了线上预购系统来配发销售，以避免为转售而购买 iPhone 。换句话说，为苹果新产品而大排长笼的情况并不存在，原因在于中国消费者如果没有预购是无法买到 iPhone 的。
北京苹果专卖店
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：中国运营商需负担沉重的补贴
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2. iPhone 在中国的销售主要透过苹果与移动运营商之间的销售授权协议，运营商需负担沉重的补贴。
上海日报报导，中国电信(China Telecom)预计开卖第一天可销售10,000支手机，而中国联通(China Unicom)表示在上周五中午前就已经卖了5,000支。然而，这些厂商却都未能提供销售比较数字。对于这些数字存在一个值得关注的问题：没人知道 iPhone 5 首卖比起以前的 iPhone 手机究竟好多少？
电信官网在iPhone5上市前发布的广告
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：iPhone对于中国消费者来说太贵？
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3. 强调 iPhone 对于中国消费者来说太贵的这种说法其实是一种误导。
没错，未补贴的 iPhone 一支要价846美元真的太贵，但在中国加入资费方案的 iphone 5 一支可能只需要96美元。
联通官网上的iPhone5以及和约套餐，可以看出要想免费用疯5，每月要消费886元
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：中国移动与苹果难达成销售协议
相关阅读：
• iPhone 5中国首日遇冷，配件商难为无米之炊
• 深度评论：苹果迁产线回国，可不是为了爱国
• iPhone 5S来得真快！疑似背盖照曝光oJAesmc
{pagination}
4. 中国移动与苹果之间很难在短期达成销售协议。
许 多业界分析师的看法几乎一致：为了进入世界上最大的手机市场，苹果必须与拥有近7亿用户的全球最大移动运营商──中国移动合作了。虽然中国移动和苹果公司一 直协商 iPhone 5的销售协议，但中国移动准备提出多少补贴以确保 iPhone 在中国的热销，一切还不明朗。
苹果当然希望中国移动也能销售iPhone手机。但是，更好的问题是中国移动有多么需要 iPhone 来赢得更多的订户，以及该公司是否愿意积极地推动功能手机过渡到 TD-SCDMA 网络的智能手机？别忘了中国移动已经推出一系列专为 TD-SCDMA 网络的入门级 Android 智能手机了。该公司不久前才增加了 Nokia Lumia 智能手机。
苹 果公司也能协助中国移动推出不只兼容于 TD-SCDMA也符合 TD-LTE 新系统的 iPhone，从而架起过渡新系统的桥梁。甚至，这还可能有助于提升中国移动的 TD-LTE 的市场推广活动。然而，这一细分市场(针对多频段、多标准全球蜂巢式网络的 TD-LTE 手机)至少要到2013年年底后才会起飞。
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：中国为苹果贡献约15%的营收
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• iPhone 5S来得真快！疑似背盖照曝光oJAesmc
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5. 中国是苹果公司第二大且成长最快的市场，为其贡献约15%的营收。
苹果公司的特质往往与消费电子产业的传统作法背道而驰：以少样但高价产品取胜。它一点都不担心自家产品是市场上价格最高的智能手机，还经常透过其品牌的绝对优势在新市场取得压倒性的胜利。
这就是让我们对于苹果感到佩服有时还带点敬畏之处。但是，这也正是我们一直怀疑苹果独特的神话还能维持多久的原因。中国或许就是得以破除这一魔咒的市场。
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Susan Hong
参考英文原文：Yoshida in China: Demystifying Apple's iPhone 5 launch，by Junko Yoshida
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• 深度评论：苹果迁产线回国，可不是为了爱国
• iPhone 5S来得真快！疑似背盖照曝光oJAesmc
{pagination}
Yoshida in China: Demystifying Apple’s iPhone 5 launch
Junko Yoshida
Apple CEO Tim Cook said iPhone 5 sales in the first three days were "the best first weekend sales ever in China." Let's analyze the numbers.
MADISON, Wis. – When Apple announced Sunday (Dec. 16) that it had sold more than 2 million iPhone 5s in China, many seemed shocked over the ravenous appetite of Chinese consumers for smartphone. “Record China sales of iPhone 5,” the headlines screamed.
With a seemingly insatiable appetite for news about Apple, most of the reports seem to point in one direction, implying that even though Steve Jobs is dead, Apple ain’t. It hasn’t lost its mojo. Hold that thought for now.
It’s important to note that releasing the first three-day sales data of any product is not something Apple has done before. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that sales had been “the best first weekend sales ever in China.”
Its stock having fallen more than 25 percent in the last three months, Cook must have felt compelled to say something after negative publicity started to swirl last week focusing on nearly empty Apple stores in China during the launch of iPhone 5.
Let’s demystify a few things about Apple and China.
1. Customer traffic in Apple stores --- there are seven in China – isn't the sole measure of the Chinese consumers’ appetite for iPhones.
After all, Apple instituted an online lottery system to allot sales in order to defeat those who buy and then resell iPhones. In other words, the long queues that symbolize new Apple products were not there simply because Chinese customers aren’t allowed to buy an iPhone without a reservation.
2. Sales of iPhones in China, heavily subsidized by cellular operators, are tightly coupled with mobile carriers’ subscription contracts.
Shanghai Daily reported over the weekend that China Telecom was expecting to sell 10,000 phones on the first day of the launch, while China Unicom said it had sold 5,000 by noon last Friday. There are, however, no comparative figures available for sales by these operators. Such figures require a note of caution: No one knows how much better iPhone 5 has done in initial sales compared to previous iPhones.
3. It's misleading to say iPhones are too expensive for Chinese consumers.
Yes, unsubsidized iPhones are expensive (starting at $846), but an iPhone 5 with subscription contract could go for as little as $96 in China.
China Mobile, Apple talks
4. Negotiations between China Mobile and Apple are far from over.
Many industry analysts are singing pretty much the same tune: To tap into the world's biggest phone market, Apple has to cooperate with China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile carrier with almost 700 million users. While there is evidence that China Mobile and Apple have been talking, it’s far from clear how much China Mobile is prepared to give, in terms of subsidies it must offer to ensure big sales of iPhones in China.
It’s clear that Apple wants China Mobile to offer iPhones. But a better question is how badly China Mobile needs iPhones to win more subscribers, and how actively it will promote the switch from feature phones to new smartphones designed for TD-SCDMA networks. Don't forget that China Mobile already has a variety of entry-level Android smartphones designed to work in TD-SCDMA. China Mobile also just added Nokia’s Lumia smartphones to its arsenal.
Apple could help China Mobile bridge the gap by rolling out iPhones that are compatible with not just TD-SCDMA but also the upcoming TD-LTE. This could boost China Mobile’s TD-LTE marketing campaign. But, by all accounts, that market segment (TD-LTE handsets that work in multi-band, multi-standard global cellular networks) is not likely to take off until late 2013.
5. China is Apple's second-largest and fastest-growing market, contributing 15 percent of its revenue.
Apple’s unique qualities, which often run counter to the conventional wisdom in the consumer electronics industry, include: leading with less variety in terms of models and pricing. It doesn't hesitate about being the highest priced smartphone and frequently bulldozes its way into new markets by leveraging the sheer power of its brand name.
This is what we admire and sometimes fear about Apple. But this is also precisely the reason why we keep wondering how long Apple can sustain the myth of its unique qualities. China may be the market that breaks the mold.
责编：Quentin
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