Well, 'front lines' sometimes tell the story. If they do in the case reported yesterday in the Silicon Valley Business Journal as follows, "Houston, we have a problem" at Apple. Maybe the pundits, and not the Wired observer, have it right?
Apple's new iPhone doesn't impress in Beijing
Vincent Lara-Cinisomo, Web contributor
Apple's iPhone 5C and 5S were unveiled to much fanfare in the States. But what about in China, where the Cupertino company is hoping to make inroads? Eh.
Bloomberg reporter Christina Larson made the rounds in Beijing, asking a cross-section of folks what they thought of the new phones.
Larson said the 5C is mocked as "not attractive;" Zhang Ao, a cameraman for Beijing Television and iPhone 4S owner, told Larson that the bright-colored 5C looked "like a cartoon," said the Apple "wow factor" had long worn off.
A colleague of Zhang, Angel Kang, said Apple releasing the phones in the U.S. and China around the same time was a "nice friendship gesture," but doesn't plan to buy one.
It's hardly a scientific study, Larson admits. But at a time when Apple greatly desires to penetrate the market, China's lukewarm reaction to the new devices, plus the higher-than-expected price, could put a crimp into the plans.
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