Despite disappointments about some iPhone 5 features, some mobile carriers in Asia already running out of stocks the first day Apple’s newest phone make its debut.
In Australia, the first market where iPhone 5 went on sale at 8am Australian time, stocks of the new iPhone 5 were running out or limited to bottom of the range models at some Telstra and Optus stores within hours of going on sale in the country, according to Financial Review.
Optus is offering the iPhone 5 at a starting price plan of A$48/month for the 16GB handset, including 200MB of data, while the 64GB unit is charged at A$129/month with 4GB data. Telstra’s plans starts at a monthly plan of A$67, while Vodafone is charging $6 for the 16GB handset on a $60 monthly plan with 1GB data.
In Japan - the second market iPhone 5 went on sale, KDDI said it had already run out of the iPhone 5, while Softbank’s president and founder, Masayoshi Son, expressed concerns that Apple might not have enough production capacity to meet demand for its latest device, according to Reuters.
The situation in Hong Kong is “more controlled”, as the iPhone 5 has obviously drawn less crowds than the previous version, while mobile carriers in the city are not facing the same stock issue as their counterparts in Japan and Australia.
CSL said it’s still have stocks of iPhone 5, and they have revamped the logistic with demand of the new device, despite there being long queue waiting to pick up the new iPhone at CSL’s store in central.
SmarTone meanwhile said the operator is now accepting pre-orders from corporate users, and it still has plenty of stock.
CSL, SmarTone and 3 HK earlier this week unveiled new pricing plans for the iPhone 5 and undercutting the iPhone 4S. CSL and 3 HK, have raised the data cap for the unlimited plans for iPhone 5 users to 6GB instead of 5GB.
Elsewhere in Singapore, SingTel, M1 and StarHub also revealed their iPhone 5 plans yesterday.
Apple launched the iPhone 5 on September 12, which is initially available in the United States and most of the major European markets, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and some Asian markets, including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
The phone then goes on sale on September 28 in 22 other countries, and will extend to 100 countries by the end of the year.