In Beijing, the New IPhone Gets a Resounding 'Meh'

In Beijing, the New IPhone Gets a Resounding 'Meh'

On the day Apple released its new iPhone 5C simultaneously in the U.S. and China, I tromped around Beijing asking yuppies, restaurant workers, and migrant street sweepers what kind of phones they use—and why. It’s hardly a scientific survey, but if the mood at the Yonghegong Costa Coffee shop is any indication, Apple’s marketing people have some work to do.

Costa Coffee, near Beijing’s Lama Temple, is the kind of place that attracts the type of latte-sipping young professionals who flocked to buy new iPhones two years ago. In fact, a fair number of its customers are still using older iPhones, but they expressed mixed feelings about whether they’ll stick with Apple (AAPL) in the future—or opt instead for the larger Android-powered Samsung (005930:KS) Galaxy smartphone, which is fast gaining popularity here. The iPhone 5C is routinely mocked as “not attractive.”

Slumped in a brown sofa, Susan Li, a prim, middle-aged teacher, toggles between the iPhone 4S she bought in 2011 and her work-issued IBM (IBM) ThinkPad. Both are “good enough,” she says, without enthusiasm; she’ll wait until her phone dies before replacing it. Zhang Ao, another iPhone 4S-user and a young cameraman for Beijing Television (BTV), looks up from the meal he brought in from a nearby KFC (YUM). He says the “wow factor” of owning an Apple product wore off long ago. He dismissed the new, brightly colored iPhone 5C as looking “like a cartoon.” He’s not sure what kind of phone he’ll buy next.


Source: http://www.businessweek.com