BUSINESS
CHINA WILL SOON BE APPLE’ S TOP MARKET
By David Cohen Business Major Student, Towson University
Picture by NowUNoIt
China is on pace to pass the United States as the nation with the most apple products and stores. Tim Cook, Apple’ s new CEO, was in China this past week for the second time this year proofing Apple’ s increased interest to expand further into China( The associated press 2). The Chinese population has the demand for Apple products more than ever and Apple has the supply to fulfill their needs. Apple’ s prestigious brand name expanding into China will be beneficial for both Apple and China’ s booming economy.
Apple is on pace to increase its brand name and awareness in the Chinese markets since Apple has $ 7.5 billion sales in the Asia-Pacific markets and China is $ 5.7 billion of that( The associated press 2). Apple currently has 11 retail stores based in Hong Kong and China, which is a very small amount compared to the United States. Apple already manufactures their products at their very controversial factory Foxconn located in Taiwan.
Currently there are some labor disputes at Foxconn, but Cook said that Apple cares deeply about all their workers. Foxconn employees have most recently been accused of bribery, and managers have been accused for accepting bribes from parts suppliers( The associated press 2). This incident has hurt Apple’ s image, but Apple is hoping this could be resolved before it further escalates. Foxconn’ s problems have not scared Apple away from investing more aggressively in China over the next couple of years( Foxconn MSNBC).
Apple’ s CEO Tim Cook has three strategies in place for China in order for it to surpass USA as the top market:
1) Open more Apple stores 2) Saddle up with China Mobile 3) Make a cheaper iPhone.
Apple is a huge brand name and them not having many stores is an obstacle for what they are trying to do. China has around 1.3 billion people and only
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