Recession pips Appleaa‚¬a„¢s popular iPhone 4 to the post

After the long awaited launch of the iPhone 4 in the USA, Romanian techno-geeks were looking forward to the prospect of having the handset available in local stores as well. That time has come. Several online stores already boast the new iPhone among their wares, but the phone is not yet winning rave reviews. Pundits say that this may be due to the financial crisis coupled with the fact that this is a gadget not easily affordable to the average Joe. However, the last generation iPhone has been much improved compared to its predecessor.

Otilia Haraga

Apple’s iPhone 4 became available in 17 more countries on July 30, but Romania was not one of them. Customers could buy the talked about new model in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

However, in Romania, several online stores, such as pcfun.ro, PCGarage.ro, eMag.ro and marketonline.ro, have already included the iPhone 4 in their offer. But the phone has not been brought via Apcom, which is Apple’s original distributor in Romania, or by Orange Romania, which announced weeks ago that it has exclusivity on this handset.

Contacted by Business Review, Orange Romania representatives did not specify when the iPhone 4 would be available in Orange stores, revealing only that this will happen “soon.’ “Orange is the only authorized iPhone distributor in Romania. Customers who buy iPhone 4 handsets from Orange will benefit from warranty and service under the conditions stipulated by the law,” says Petre Dobrescu, product division manager.

When the phone hits Orange stores, it will be on sale from the operator’s shop network, its online store and the stores of some of the Orange partners, who are authorized to sell the iPhone 4.

“iPhone 4 is a product that was quite awaited in Romania. Only in the first day we managed to sell 16 units, the most appreciated model being the one of 32 GB,” Radu Apostolescu, eMAG marketing manager, tells Business Review.

This terminal is considered by many as ‘a must- have gadget.’ “From young people, ordinary people, business people to stars and fans of the company, iPhone is a gadget very much sought-for. Generally, the profile of the buyer fits a young person who covets a communication device which is “in fashion” and has extended functionalities,” he says. eMag introduced the iPhone 4 in its offer on August 17. In the first week, the online retailer sold the entire stock of 40 iPhone units of 16 and 32 GB. Up to now, eMag managed to sell approximately 400 units.

Marius Ghenea, owner of FitDistribution, the company which runs pcfun.ro and PCGarage.ro, tells Business Review how the iPhone 4 ended up on the shelves of his virtual stores: “We put it on sale on PCfun.ro and PCGarage.ro immediately after it was available in Europe, because at this time, especially for an important online store in Romania, if you don’t come up with a product on the local market at the same time as it is made available elsewhere in Europe, there will be two problems: first, customers will be able to buy it online from another European country, which means a loss of sales for us and local online commerce. Second, information travels very quickly on the internet and customers do not understand why the product is available in Great Britain or Germany but not in Romania,” he explains.

However, how does a gadget like the iPhone 4 sell during a crisis period in Romania? Ghenea says he cannot put forward a figure, but sales have been sluggish. He adds: “At the iPhone 4’s current market prices, only the most affluent customers can afford it, so, especially during this period of cutbacks in consumption and reductions in buyers’ budget for such products, the response has not been too great.”

The price of the iPhone 4 varies on Pcfun.ro from RON 4,397.13 to RON 4,949.56 for the two available versions – 16GB and 32 GB. “I cannot give you a figure, but most customers went for the entry model, 16 GB,” says Ghenea.

On the eMag.ro website, the iPhone 4 is sold in the 16 GB version for RON 4,989 (VAT included) and in the 32 GB version for RON 5,739 (VAT included).

“Half of the iPhones are bought by residential clients while the other half are purchased by companies. Most users of iPhone handsets – 60 percent of consumers – are men. 18-35-year-olds are especially attracted by this handset,” says Dobrescu.

Ghenea splits the buyers of this device into three categories. “The iPhone 4, as well as the other iPhone models and the entire range of gadgets from Apple (iPod, iPad), is a line that attracts mainly Apple fans, and secondly other consumers who are passionate about gadgets. There is also a third category of customers – snobbish buyers,” he says.

It seems that at this point in time Romania not very many people can afford to be either Apple fans or snobbish. The Romanian Apple buyer is “very affluent, gadget oriented, and very likely a client who has used other Apple products in the past and continues to use the same brand,” says Ghenea.

Although the launch of the product in the United States did not go without problems, as consumers complained about some signal and reception issues, Ghenea says up to this point there have been no such issues from Romanian buyers. “We do not have any complaints. I think in Romania the GSM signal is somewhat better than in the United States, at least in certain areas that are too crowded or, on the contrary, very remote in the USA,” he says.

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