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Sunday, April 2, 2017

Apple unveils iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus - (Product)RED; in China it's only colour

In crazy selling World, it appears that only mobiles are being sold – looking at the no. of shops selling mobile mushrooming in every locality – then the bigger showrooms and then .. the Online Sales !!  - XiaomiRedmi 4A's first sale in India was on Thursday, starting at 12pm IST on both Amazon India and Mi.com. Hours  later,  the online marketplace and the Chinese consumer electronics company  announced that the sale set a record for the fastest smartphone sale on launch day in India.Across both Amazon India and Mi.com, the companies claim that 250,000 units of the XiaomiRedmi 4A were sold within 4 minutes. Amazon India also said that during the period of the sale, it saw site-wide orders spike to a record 1,500 per second, and 5 million hits per minute. The online marketplace added that it received over 1 million 'notify me' alerts from customers.

Apple announced iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -  RED Special Edition in a vibrant red aluminum finish, in recognition of more than 10 years of partnership between Apple and (RED).  Apple claims that this  gives customers an unprecedented way to contribute to the Global Fund and bring the world a step closer to an AIDS-free generation. The special edition will be available to order online worldwide and in stores beginning Friday, March 24.   However, both  special edition models will launch in India in the month of April (in second phase) and are likely to cost around Rs.82000/-

Apple’s website reads :“Since we began working with (RED) 10 years ago, our customers have made a significant impact in fighting the spread of AIDS through the purchase of our products, from the original iPod nano, (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition all the way to today’s lineup of Beats products and accessories for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The introduction of this special edition iPhone in a gorgeous red finish is our biggest (PRODUCT)RED offering to date in celebration of our partnership with (RED), and we can’t wait to get it into customers’ hands.”  “Apple is the world’s largest corporate donor to the Global Fund, contributing more than $130 million as part of its partnership with (RED),” said Deborah Dugan, (RED)’s CEO.

A video app for iOS, called Clips, has also been revealed and will be released with iOS 10.3, which is expected to launch soon.One tech analyst suggested Apple was increasingly trying to associate its products with ethical ideals.All of the money raised by Red - a venture originally founded by U2 musician Bono and activist Bobby Shriver - goes to Global Fund HIV/Aids grants.Among other things, these grants provide testing and treatment for patients with the aim of wiping out transmission of HIV.

Is there anything different ?  -  Apple's latest iPhone might be red, but it's not Red in China  ~  explains  BBC .. ..     Apple's Chinese-language sites don't mention the product or cause. This left some perplexed.Internet users were among the first to spot that there was different branding on Apple's landing page depending on the Chinese territory.When translated from Mandarin, Apple's China retail website for the Red devices simply read as "now in red" while the Taiwanese site used the words "product" Red which the US and other countries have as well.Some analysts read this as yet another example of Chinese politics interfering with Western brands looking to do business in the world's most populous nation.Apple had no comment on the matter.

One possibility is that Apple is looking to navigate sensitivities in a state where messages are controlled: HIV/Aids and homosexuality remain taboo topics in China.The first case of HIV in China was recorded in 1989. By 2000 the disease was found in most of China, and as it continued to spread, the government kept denying the problem.Today discrimination against Aids patients is common… ..and the other issue contentious for them is ‘Dalai Lama’.  Earlier this year Red's Instagram page showed a picture of the Tibetan spiritual leader, whom China considers a dangerous separatist.Last year Apple's online film and book services were shut down in China. Apple was also made to pull the New York Times from the China App store following a request from the authorities.

But the red iPhones are poised to sell well because the colour is considered to be the most auspicious in Chinese culture and it is considered a prestige product there.The tech behemoth is clearly trying to maintain relations with its fastest-growing sales region.Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been making semi-regular trips to China and is opening four research and development centres later this year.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

24th Mar 2017

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