Is the iPhone Going for the Gold?
There was a time when, to many Beijingers, the iPhone symbolized the epitome of wealth, status and power. On Apple product release dates, the lines outside the Sanlitun flagship store wrapped around blocks. People fought. Scalpers haggled. And in the end, more than a few people were left with their thirst for iPhone treasure unquenched.
Today, not so much. Sure, Apple products still have a certain cachet to them, and who doesn’t love the megapixel action on that iPad 3? But given the electrocutions, explosions, and even comas that have been linked to the use of iPhones and their accessories, Apple isn’t doing too hot in China right now. In fact, Jing Daily reports that Apple has control over only “5 percent of the country’s smartphone market.” Compare that with Japan, who, according to CNET, has 2/3 of its smartphone buyers opting for the iPhone.
Apple may be trying to change all that with a new product: iPhone Gold.
Of course, we won’t know for sure until the product actually drops. But according to tech blog AllThingsD, the golden iPhone 5s is happening. Like for real. And news outlets everywhere are saying that it’s happening because of China.
Gold is, as Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin told USA Today, a “huge” part of China’s cultural ideology. Bajarin said to USA Today, “the market is driven by colors, and gold means prosperity.”
And we agree. It makes sense to think that China, with its masses of bling-obsessed nouveau riche grabbing for the flashiest anything and everything, would go straight for the gold. So does iPhone Gold mean a triumphant return for Apple to its place at the helm of the electronics hierarchy?
Some aren’t so sure. Jing Daily notes that the Chinese reaction on Sina Weibo to the golden iphone announcement was anything but welcoming, with some users calling the supposed new product “unsophisticated,” “ugly,” “vulgar,” and “too tacky.” But China is no stranger to gaudy, ostentatious displays of wealth, as we all know.
So, readers, what do you think? Do you believe Apple would be audacious enough to release an iPhone Gold? And even if they do, will China lap it up like the rest of the world seems to think they will? Sound off below.
Photo: goldgenie.com
