According
to figures from mobile operators and resellers, it turns out that
Kenyans have a high appetite for Apple’s latest products, iPhone 6 and
iPhone 6 Plus, that the tech company has been unable to meet up with the
demand for the smartphones.
As at October 2014,
orders for the new iPhones in Kenya was 1,000 units but Apple delivered
700 units, with Safaricom getting 70 percent of the orders. The rest of
the units were shared among other operators and resellers, Capital FM reports.
Michelle
Abuya, Business Development Manager, Salute iWorld, said: “Authorized
Apple resellers only got 7 percent of what the country ordered.”
Salute iWorld officially started selling the new iPhones last week and have seen most of their stock pre-ordered by customers.
Safaricom
remains the largest reseller of iPhones with 120,000 subscribers owning
iPhones, Airtel and Orange have 5,000 and 2,000 subscribers using
iPhones respectively.
However,
Apple’s supply-demand problem is not exclusive to Kenya. Speaking at
the company’s conference in October, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the
company has a demand – supply issue, saying supply and demand for the
iPhone aren’t “on the same planet.”
“As of today
and the end of the quarter, we’re not nearly fast enough in getting the
iPhone 6 and larger iPhone 6 Plus into customers hands,” Cook said.
Although
Apple had not shown particular interest in the African market, recent
moves to authorize more resellers in the region and the inclusion of
five African countries in Apple’s App store is an indication the company
is keen to expand in the region.
Apple responded
to the unexpected demand for the iPhone by adjusting its sales forecast
for the December quarter up to $66.5 billion.
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