Apple to nearly treble China network

Apple CEO Tim Cook believes it won’t be too far in the future when Greater China becomes the tech giant’s largest market.

In an interview with China’s Sina news agency last week, published in Chinese, Cook said he planned to open a further 25 stores across China, which by Apple’s market definition includes Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as mainland China.

Apple’s 15 company-owned store network will grow to 40 within two years, the further beyond that.

“We’re investing like crazy in the market,” Cook said in a media conference call. “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.”

Of its total sales in the last quarter, 14 per cent came from China, where the brand is a status symbol which allows it to command higher prices than a plethora of rival brands from China, Korea and Taiwan. It is ranked just sixth in the market currently.
While Cook was in China he met with the nation’s vice minister Ma Kai to discuss the ‘protection’ of users’ data and personal information.

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