A few weeks ago when Apple launched its iPhone 6 and the bigger iPhone 6 Plus version, I decided to head to Apple’s Hysan Place store to see what all the fuss was about.
I didn’t come close to even stepping inside the store. Not because of the massive crowds and a line-up which stretched almost down to Hennessy Road, but because of the crazy grey market taking place right outside the store.
It was a fascinating sight. People lining up to buy a new iPhone were literally walking out of the store and selling it to one of the many cashed up buyers paying up to HK$16,000 for an iPhone 6 Plus.
Days following the launch, this was not an uncommon scene. The areas surrounding all Apple stores in Hong Kong – even inside IFC – were full of people buying any new iPhone possible, which could then be smuggled to China and resold at a tidy profit.
The iPhones were ripped out of their boxes and put into paper containers for cream pies and toothpaste, coffee and tea boxes. One report said a man was caught carrying eight devices in his underwear.
Back when I bought my first iPhone I remember it being a real experience, something Apple and consumers could be proud of.
It’s now just a free-for-all where the experience of buying a phone, opening the slick packaging and using a revolutionary device has very little meaning.
Apple might as well sell the phones in a brown paper bag – it would surely save the streets of Hong Kong from being littered with empty iPhone packaging.
It’s hugely disappointing and a blight on the Apple brand. Loyal fans have been overrun by a group of people looking to cash in on a situation that Apple has created and seems uninterested to fix.
Marketers should also look at this situation and take note. Not only have investors punished the company for rushing the phone to market and putting out a device which bends in your pocket, but it’s a stain on the Apple brand which can only benefit rival smartphone creators in a market where the stakes are incredibly high.