You are here Home » Tech » Mobile » iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Demand In Kenya Exceeds Apple’s Supply

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Demand In Kenya Exceeds Apple’s Supply

by Milicent Atieno

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Demand In Kenya Exceeds Apple’s Supply

The Kenyan smartphone market demand for Apple’s latest smartphone the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has grown to exceed the supply from Apple. The numbers of orders placed for the new phones stood at 1600 units in October, yet Apple was only able to supply just 700 units.

Safaricom, the leading telecom operator in Kenya, commanding the largest subscribers base made 70% of these orders, with the other telecom companies and resellers sharing the remaining. Salute iWorld, began selling the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus just last week, and already most of their stock are being pre-ordered by customers.

Michelle Abuya, the Business Development Manager at Salute iWorld said, “Authorized Apple resellers only got 7% of what the country ordered.”

Safaricom got the lion’s share of the orders from the Kenyan market, with about 120,000 subscribers owning the new iPhones, while Airtel Kenya and Orange have 5,000 and 2,000 subscribers respectively.

However, this shortage in supply has not just affected the Kenyan market only. During Apple’s conference back in October, Tim Cook the Apple’s CEO admitted to Apple not being able to meet the demand for the new iPhones. He said the demand and supply for the new iPhones do not exist “on the same planet.”

Cook was quoted saying, “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.”

It said that Apple has not demonstrated to have significant interest in the African market, but recent developments at Apple signify this is about to change. Apple recently authorized more resellers in different regions in Africa and has included five African countries to its App store.

You may also like