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Analyst: Apple's sales in China could triple in two years
Here's more good news for Apple from the Chinese front: Katy Huberty and Mathew Schneider from Morgan Stanley have released a report saying that Apple could make as much as $9 billion from China in the fiscal year of 2012, as opposed to $2.9 billion in the last fiscal year. That kind of growth would be better than the rest of the world, which means that if there are any problems with Apple's revenue in the US and Europe over the next few years, China will likely make up for them. The report says all of that growth will come from two major factors. First, Apple is expected to expand its sales network in China. Apple has already founded four major retail stores and begun device sales through China Unicom and its online store, but there will have to be more ways for Chinese customers to find and buy Apple products in the future. Secondly, as we've heard before, China is about to go through a major surge in the middle class, bringing more people than ever into the range of buying and using Apple's products. If Apple can take advantage of that upcoming rise in income over much of the country, it'll be well on the way to the $9 billion number. This isn't a huge surprise -- we've known for a while that China will be a big source of growth for a lot of consumer electronics companies in the next few years. But it's interesting to see some numbers out there about just how big Apple's business in China might get.
Apple shifts focus from sales to quality in China
There was quite a bit of discussion from Apple yesterday about their sales in China (you can see that in our liveblog from yesterday afternoon), and AppleInsider points out that Apple is changing priorities over there, from straight up sales to brand quality. Tim Cook said yesterday that Apple has activated more than 200,000 iPhones since the release in China last year, and only in relation to the iPhone can anyone think that number could have been better. Apple is behind the pack in China -- there are a significant number of competitors over there, and unlike the market in the West, multifunctional smartphones have been popular for a long time already. But Apple recognizes the potential overseas, and Cook says the company does "...realize we must do well in these markets to continue to grow." What changes can they make? Price for one -- Apple says that as a premium brand, they're going to have to tweak a little bit to fit into the lower-income middle class in China while still competing on user experience. Apple didn't say that they weren't happy with what's happening in China, but compared to other countries in Asia (Japan came out of last quarter with a 400% year-over-year growth), Apple has a little more work to do there.
