Apple increasing gold iPhone 5s production because of positive response to the product

Just a few hours after iPhone 5s orders went live on the Apple online store, the gold iPhone is the only model that showed a shipping time longer than 7 to 10 days in the U.S.  This unexpected color choice is a big seller this time around.  “I don’t care what’s inside the device,” the WSJ quotes TV stations employee Lian Jiyu, who was waiting for an iPhone 5s in Beijing, regarding his own device color choice. “Chinese people like gold.”  Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c launch in Hong Kong appeared to draw a considerable line, the WSJ reports, and in Beijing line-ups were manageable. As a result, the company has changed its launch strategy, giving customers the chance to pre-order and then assigning them a time to come to the location to pick up their devices.

For the first time ever, Apple is selling the iPhone at a launch in China, which could help alleviate grey market device sales, which are normally an issue in the country. But it sounds like demand for the gold 5s, combined with scarcity of that model could create a different type of grey market opportunity, which is another good reason for Apple to build up this production and try to keep the interest for the gold iPhone alive.