Chinese Apple Stores expected to spur wide boost in sales
updated 10:50 am EDT, Mon March 22, 2010
Based on trends in US, western Europe
Plans to build 25 new stores in China should significantly help Apple's local sales, argues Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. Macs, for example, currently account for less than 1 percent of the computer marketshare in China; Huberty notes however that in the last quarter of 2009, Mac sales doubled year-over-year. Sales growth has traditionally accompanied the addition of more Apple Stores.
Between 2004 and 2009, Mac marketshare grew 4.3 percent in the US alongside the construction of 123 stores. Share rose 2.8 percent in western Europe in the same timeframe as Apple opened 33 stores. Japan, meanwhile, inched ahead 1.1 percent as five stores became accessible.
Other beacons of potential are said to include recent research, showing that Chinese Apple product owners are twice as likely to buy future Apple gear. Huberty has also in the past called for a cheaper iPhone model, one which could make the device more practical amongst China's relatively poor population. The option of a pre-paid iPhone could sell 10 million units a year in the country, says the analyst. Nevertheless, current and upgraded iPhones could eventually push sales to 5 million units a year on their own.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Apple should definitely allow
prepaid iPhones if they could get 10 million units sold. I think that way the halo effect would be much larger and the iPhone would become more visible. If only that damn Android OS hadn't hadn't soured the iPhone's market share. I know that the Chinese consumers are going to be buying those cheap Android smartphones. If that's all they can afford, what choice to they have.