Apple's iPad mini fetching $480 in Chinese gray market
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt - November 3, 2012: 6:40 AM ET
Supplies are tight, say Shanghai scalpers, but should ease in a week or so
FORTUNE -- "iPad mini price fry the 3000 yuan cattle worried not sell."
That, according to Google Translate, is the headline in The Phoenix, a Chinese language website that
covers the Asian tech market.
The thrust of the story is that although the Apple ( AAPL) store in Hong Kong is selling 16GB iPad minis for
HK$ 2588 ($334), the 7.9-inch tablets are in such short supply on mainland China that scalpers on Friday
were getting anywhere from 2800 yuan to 3300 yuan ($450-$530) for the same device.
The first batch of iPad minis appeared in Shanghai Friday afternoon, but most dealers in the "parallel
market" didn't have them yet. "It is estimated to have to wait a week to two weeks," one told The Phoenix's
reporter.
Prices are expected to fall to 2600 ($416) within a day or two.
The Phoenix piece, as filtered through Google's statistical analysis engine, makes several references to
"fruit powder." Anybody care to improve on that translation?
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