Apple's iPhone sales fail to flatter on mainland debut

HONG KONG: Apple Inc's mainland partner sold fewer iPhones than analysts anticipated in the product's debut last week, raising concerns the price is too high to attract customers in the world's biggest mobile phone market.

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd said it sold 5,000 iPhones since the Beijing-based carrier began offering the product on Oct 30. The phone costs as much as 6,999 yuan ($1,025), compared with $299 in the US. Unicom's version of the iPhone also lacks the Wi-Fi networking features available in other markets.

The sales figures were disappointing compared with results in other markets, said Paul Wuh, an analyst at Samsung Securities. The iPhone 3GS sold 1 million units within three days of its June debut in North America and Europe. That dwarfed the sales in the Chinese mainland, a market that Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook sees as a "priority project" for the company's expansion.