There is no dearth of smart-phones by leading manufacturers like Samsung, BlackBerry, HTC, etc, but still people are crazy for Apple’s iPhone 4S, which goes into retail sale today i.e 11th November, 2011 in Hongkong , South Korea and 13 other countries. Hongkong is in the grip of Apple iPhone 4S fever and this speaks volumes for its popularity in this southern Chinese city.
To grab the phone at first available opportunity, lot of fans and resellers had gathered outside the plus Apple store in Hongkong, despite inclement weather. Resellers are hoping to get as many phones made available to them to sell in the grey market. There are many fans who have waited for weeks to get their new iPhone 4S and they are hoping against hope that there will not be any limit to buy as many devices as one desire.
More than four million of the smartphones have been sold since its world debut in markets including Germany, Britain, France, Japan and Australia on October 14, 2011 according to Apple Inc. The buyer frenzy comes despite software bugs that have caused some iPhone 4S owners to report lower than expected battery life, and reports that its Siri voice recognition software may not cope well with foreign accents.
The iPhone 4S is already a super hit on Hong Kong’s grey market, where they sell for up to six times the official price. Those margins will shrink dramatically once the product is freely available in the city. But grey market operators will still make killings in nearby cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou in mainland China, where they have yet to be officially released and very popular over there.
The iPhone 4S models are set to retail for between HK $5,088 (Approx. €475) and HK $6,688 (Approx. €625) in Hong Kong but just how much they can be resold for on the black market over the border in China is at this stage anyone’s guess. The device has been on sale in the United States for more than a month but there has so far been no word on when it might be officially released in China.
By the time this article goes online, many fans must be proud owners of iPhone 4S in Hongkong and many resellers would have made huge profits!!
