iPhone – The Irresistible Attraction
26th August 2008
With 1 out of every 10 unlocked iPhones being used here in China, Apple’s “Wunderphone” inevitably become the hottest mobile device of last few months. Its revolutionary design is gaining tremendous popularity among the fashionable here in China.
China Polling has been fielding a Mobile Phone Omnibus survey for the last two months and is following the buying preferences of consumer for their next mobile phone purchases. Unsurprisingly, over 65% have heard of iPhone, and among this group, more than 85% are willing to actually buy an iPhone if it’s available here in China. Obviously, this number indicates a strong demand for the iPhone, but what are the “iPhonephiles” looking for when it comes to making a purchase decision? Findings show that Battery Life, Memory Size, Style/Design are the top features when picking aå phone for all consumers. The difference between iPhone lovers and the not yet converted is all about branding. The non iPhone lovers prefer Music and Camera features rather than being wooed and indoctrinated by the hip Apple brand equity.
| Features | iPhone Lovers | Non iPhone Lovers |
| Battery | 68.30% | 54.80% |
| Memory | 66.90% | 53.10% |
| Style/Design | 59.20% | 48.00% |
| Brand | 58.50% | 41.80% |
| Music features | 53.90% | 46.30% |
| Camera features | 48.60% | 44.10% |
| Color | 44.40% | 36.20% |
| Video feature | 41.90% | 39.50% |
| Trendy model | 38.00% | 36.20% |
| Size/Thinness | 37.00% | 29.40% |
| Sending emails E-mail | 34.50% | 33.30% |
| View and edit MS office series | 28.90% | 17.50% |
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Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2008
One of the major attractions of the iPhone is its Internet browsing capabilities; however, fees charge for mobile internet usage is quite high in China. But, it’s surprising that 83.7% of the participants have used their mobile phones to access the internet where the number climbs to 90% for iPhone lovers despite the high cost.
| Have you ever used your mobile phone to access the Internet? | iPhone Lovers | Non iPhone Lovers |
| Yes | 73.40% | 89.80% |
| No | 26.60% | 10.20% |
Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2008
The already existed grey market for selling unlocked iPhones no doubt had certain amount of impact on the mobile phone market. This raises the question for other brands in the market – Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola etc. “What can we do to prevent the risk of losing big market share once iPhone is formally introduced to China?”