iPhone 3GS Finally Arrives to Russia: 9 Months Later and $100 Less Expensive
March 02, 2010 |
Today here in Russia we have finally learned the date when we should expect iPhone 3GS to become officially available in the country as one of the leading local mobile carries and one of the largest electronics retailer have announced that they are initializing the sales this week, on the 5th of March.
It is impossible to find any publisher that bothers to report this story (not really a hot one, after all) and somehow fails to mention that this latest model of the popular Apple gadget makes its appearance in Russia with a huge delay – 9 months after its debut in the US, Canada and some European countries. After all, 9 months is perfectly enough to give birth to a child so Apple has definitely taken their time with the gadget.
The huge delay is due to one much-discussed reason: the lengthy negotiations between Apple and the three leading Russian mobile carriers that sold the previous iPhone versions – and did not achieve any impressive results here. I’ve been talking at the time and I will keep insisting on it now that the main reason for the failure is the most obvious one: the price.
No matter how loyal Apple fans here are, I can hardly imagine the vast majority of my friends going and buying a cell phone for almost $1 thousand even if they could afford it – especially after almost everyone who wanted to have it has already purchased one abroad anyway. And without the culture of contracts that could enable carriers to subsidize the expensive gadgets, the price turned into something beyond understanding of most people who could ever consider buying an iPhone in Russia.
But unfortunately people in Apple who are responsible for international sales decided that the reason for the failure was not the price and insisted the gadget was not advertised heavily enough here when the official sales began. Believe me, I’ve been here and I’ve seen it: iPhone ads were basically everywhere on the streets and on TV so you could not really avoid seeing them at all. Yet the buzz did not change one simple fact: the gadget was not affordable at all so no ads could persuade most people to go and buy it.
Now the lengthy negotiations are finally over and iPhone 3GS is ready to make its appearance in Russia with at least one of the carriers (and others will obviously follow in the coming days as reports were that negotiations took place almost simultaneously with the other two largest players in the market) and it is absolutely ready for a very similar failure in the country for the same reason.
Yes, it is actually coming here less expensive than Apple insisted: the Cupertino guys demanded that the 16 GB model should be priced at approximately $1,100 in retail and the official announcement today is that this model will cost about $1,000 while the 32 GB version will be available for about $1,170. So basically the negotiations resulted in something of a success for the Russian partners as Apple agreed to cut the retail price by $100. But will it help?
To me it does not sound any more affordable yet sources claim that Apple hopes proper promotion can change everything: where last time the Russian partners carried out all the advertising campaigns, this time Apple is going to distribute promotion budgets on their own, purchasing the best prime time spots on TV and probably shooting all the outdoor advertising at the potential buyers that they could buy.
But irrespective of who gets control over advertising this time, I have a feeling that sales will hardly be a success again for the very same reason: the price is still too high, especially when you compare it to what you could pay for the gadget in the US. And it looks like even Russian partners don’t believe in their prospects locally as it is reported that the initially imported batch is only 30 – 50 thousand phones for the entire Russian market which is tiny for a huge country like this. I will be happy to admit I’m wrong if local retailers manage to sell dozens upon dozens of thousands of iPhones but for now I think that a delayed gadget with a pricing policy like the one Apple has does not really have any solid prospects in the country.
Via (in Russian)
In a previous comment, I lamented about the price of technology in Russia. The explanation you provided was that Russian businesses were the ones responsible for the increased margins — which are designed to offset the significant risk of doing business in Russia. I'll grant that the iPhone is an expensive device, but I have to wonder just how much of that eye-popping $1,170 is going towards a similar management of risk. I'm not sure it's balanced to place the blame for this financial impasse entirely on Apple.
True, Apple alone should not be blamed but the price that Apple Russian partners are offered is still higher than the retail price of unlocked iPhones in the US so I think that Apple still has a lot to be blamed for – hence the post. Of course I know that in Russia we tend to expect higher incomes than anywhere else but here part of the fault is on Apple as well.
To the best of my knowledge, you can't buy an official unlocked iPhone at all in the United States. All legitimate iPhone purchases must be used with AT&T. Even Apple's site states that all iPhone purchases "require a two-year AT&T wireless service contract."
Of course, there are "jailbroken" phones that have been purchased on subsidy and then hacked and "lost," or which are outright stolen and sold on auction sites, but I'd hardly equate that black market to a "retail price."
I'm not saying that Apple is immune to criticism. Their products are generally more expensive than competing alternatives. They're also generally better quality, more refined, or are completely new. So I guess a premium price is somewhat justified.
I do understand your point about the price being difficult for Russians to absorb, but then again, I saw my family overseas — people who live, in some cases, without even a toilet — scrape together $950 to buy a Nokia smartphone as a birthday gift (I still get aggravated by that choice — especially since they wanted me to chip in).
Less the image.
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I'm from Russia and I want to say that all words in this article is true! You really mut know that in Russia we tend to expect higher incomes than anywhere else but here part of the fault is on Apple as well.
I am from Russia myself so I happen to know the situation – but thanks for the additional confirmation and for sharing my point of view that Apple is partly to blame here.
And, whadda ya know, the Russians SURVIVED those nine months without the newest iPhone. AMAZING!!!
)
That iPhone is still to expensive to afford – the analogs – are so cheap and effective!
Thanks it over!
Absolutely true – everyone who wanted to have one already has it – and everyone else will definitely survive even further.
Now how long until the droid heads over that way?
The best phone I've ever used – that's definitely!
Thanks for sharing!
iPhone is really worth that sum of money!
Recommend!
I just need this, Well done! Many thanks.
I do understand your point about the price being difficult for Russians to absorb,thx.
russians are very racist pple their are even discriminating non-living objects this knuckle-heads are realy weaked..
Oh, that's a great news that now iPhone is officially available in Russia. so you can get easily iphone from your country. but i have to wait for that. because yet iPhone is not available in India.
Something tells me that in India there are already plenty of unlocked iPhones anyway – same as here in Russia we had a million of those before the initial sales of iPhone 3G began. It is mostly the matter of how badly people want to use the gadget, not the matter of official availability.
Thanks I needed that one.,Abagail
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