Kenyans Order More iPhones Than Apple Can Deliver

According to figures from mobile operators and resellers, it turns out that Kenyans have a high appetite for Apple's latest products, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, that the tech company has been unable to meet up with the demand for the smartphones.

As at October 2014, orders for the new iPhones in Kenya was 1,000 units but Apple delivered 700 units, with Safaricom getting 70 percent of the orders. The rest of the units were shared among other operators and resellers, Capital FM reports.

Michelle Abuya, Business Development Manager, Salute iWorld, said: "Authorized Apple resellers only got 7 percent of what the country ordered."

Salute iWorld officially started selling the new iPhones last week and have seen most of their stock pre-ordered by customers.

Safaricom remains the largest reseller of iPhones with 120,000 subscribers owning iPhones, Airtel and Orange have 5,000 and 2,000 subscribers using iPhones respectively.

However, Apple's supply-demand problem is not exclusive to Kenya. Speaking at the company's conference in October, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company has a demand – supply issue, saying supply and demand for the iPhone aren't "on the same planet."

"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," Cook said.

Although Apple had not shown particular interest in the African market, recent moves to authorize more resellers in the region and the inclusion of five African countries in Apple's App store is an indication the company is keen to expand in the region.

Apple responded to the unexpected demand for the iPhone by adjusting its sales forecast for the December quarter up to $66.5 billion.