Tim Cook says Apple plans to open 25 new retail stores in China within 2 years
Tim Cook was in China recently where the Apple CEO took a stroll through Foxconn to check out the iPhone manufacturing process up close and personal. And oh yes, there was that small matter of meeting with Chinese authorities over alleged state-sponsored iCloud attacks.
In an interview conducted on the trip, and relayed by Reuters, Cook reportedly confirmed Apple's plans to open up 25 additional retail stores in China within the next two years. Cook intimated as much earlier this week during Apple's earnings conference call.
And so when I look at China, I see an enormous market where there are more people graduating into the middle class than any nation on earth in history and just an incredible market where people brought the latest technology and products that we were providing.
And so we're investing like crazy in the market. We're more than doubling our stores. We've got 15 in Greater China today. We're going to be close to 40 in the next couple of years. We've expanded our online store to cover now 315 cities in China.
Looking over Apple's earnings for the past quarter, revenue from China didn't come in as high as some were anticipating. Specifically, revenue from China increased by a paltry 1% year over year. This, though, may be due to the delayed rollout of the iPhone 6 in the country.
