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At a Shanghai electronics market, row after of iPhones, real and fake are on display, as vendors cash in ahead of the official launch of Apple's trendy smart phone in China.
"The 'high imitation" iPhones sell much better than the smuggled ones," said one 20-something salesman, sitting behind his small counter piled high with handsets.
His candid words are not good news for mobile operator China Unicom, which officially start selling the iPhone in the world's biggest cell phone market, more than two years after the gadget's US launch.
Unicom and Apple announced a multi-year deal in August to offer the touch-pad iPhone here in a bid to turn around weak performance against riveals China Mobile and China Telecom by attracting customers with high-end tastes.
Unicom says it hopes to sell five million hand-sets in three years, but experts and customers question how realistic that goal is when tech-savvy consumers have been snapping up cheaper fake and smuggled model for months.
Shaun Rein, head of the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, said two million of China's nearly 720 million mobile phone users are already using authentic iPhones purchased here or abroad, and demand may already be met.
"When the iPhone came out in the United States in 2007, there was a huge demand here, and a lot or people were going to the United States, buying handsets, cracking the code and selling it here," Rein said.
"Almost everyone who wants an iPhone already has one."
On top of that estimate, countless more Chinese are using fake iPhones that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, some of which come pre-loaded with the popular QQ instant messaging system as an added bonus.
Hai Bin, a 32-year-old employee at an auction webiste, said he was doubtful the official handset would make much of a mark in China.
"The 'high imitation" iPhones sell much better than the smuggled ones," said one 20-something salesman, sitting behind his small counter piled high with handsets.
His candid words are not good news for mobile operator China Unicom, which officially start selling the iPhone in the world's biggest cell phone market, more than two years after the gadget's US launch.
Unicom and Apple announced a multi-year deal in August to offer the touch-pad iPhone here in a bid to turn around weak performance against riveals China Mobile and China Telecom by attracting customers with high-end tastes.
Unicom says it hopes to sell five million hand-sets in three years, but experts and customers question how realistic that goal is when tech-savvy consumers have been snapping up cheaper fake and smuggled model for months.
Shaun Rein, head of the Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, said two million of China's nearly 720 million mobile phone users are already using authentic iPhones purchased here or abroad, and demand may already be met.
"When the iPhone came out in the United States in 2007, there was a huge demand here, and a lot or people were going to the United States, buying handsets, cracking the code and selling it here," Rein said.
"Almost everyone who wants an iPhone already has one."
On top of that estimate, countless more Chinese are using fake iPhones that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, some of which come pre-loaded with the popular QQ instant messaging system as an added bonus.
Hai Bin, a 32-year-old employee at an auction webiste, said he was doubtful the official handset would make much of a mark in China.
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