How to Make the iPhone 6 Plus Fit in Your Pants — the Shanghai Way

Yahoo Tech
image

(iphoneincanada.ca)

The new iPhone hitting the shelves in China on Friday could have been a downright dull affair on Friday had it not been for one fast-thinking wireless operator that figured out how to get that big iPhone 6 Plus into customers’ pockets.

Tweeters passed around photos of a China Unicom store in Shanghai that apparently hired an onsite tailor to expand the pockets of iPhone 6 Plus buyers to accommodate the bigger phone. The news was first reported by Tech in Asia.

The Wall Street Journal reported a rather tame opening, which may not be a huge surprise considering that buyers in China had to wait a month after sales in several other countries. Though there were other reports of hefty queues.

image

As for the size of that iPhone 6, one might wonder why Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook didn’t think of the tailor thing himself.

There was plenty of First World whining when the iPhone 6 Plus came out, and tweeters bravely posted tales of woe about the bigger phone not fitting in skinny jeans. Of course, the Chinese may have gotten that innovation tip from the Dutch. Telecoms company Royal KPN N.V. was on the scene with a mobile tailor during that country’s iPhone 6 launch last month.

image

Apple shares were up on Friday as the market crawled back from some rough days.

Reports earlier this week indicated that preorders of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China had exceeded 20 million units, with one of China’s largest malls selling 10 million units, Benjamin Mayo, writing for 9to5Mac wrote, citing other sources.

Read: Apple preps for ‘insatiable’ iPhone 6 demand in China

Last month, Apple reported record iPhone 6 orders of more than 10 million units for first-weekend sales, eclipsing last year’s mark of 9 million units when the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c went on sale. An update is coming with Apple results on Monday.

Then we just might see who wears the pants in the mobile-phone world.

Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @bkollmeyer.