Apple's Risk in China

Some industry analysts think that Apple risk in China is the fact that is App stores offer few applications created with specifically the Chinese consumer/user in mind.

Two thirds of the Apple apps downloads are for apps from the US. 

The rest are from apps from Japan and the EU. 

The percentage of apps from China itself is almost zero. 

There are companies and efforts under way to try to change this. 

Reference: "Apple revamps its China App Store" article in San Jose Mercury News, by John Boudreau 

Apple hopes to Create Massive New Market for its Products in China

Apple currently has two Apple stores in Beijing and also two in Shanghai.

It plans to open 25 stores in China by 2011.

**Apple has revamped its iTunes and App Store, allowing Chinese locals to shop online in Chinese for the first time.

China has 800 million mobile users and 400 million internet users. But, so far, Western companies have not yet been able to profit much from this huge market due to a culture of piracy.

Apple relaunched its Chinese iTunes Store and App Store in October, and is making an effort to highlight localized apps.

****Previously, people had to use a US-based credit card, or one with dual currency capability, to make online purchases in the App Store or iTunes Store. The new revamped stores allow people to directly transfer money from banks, which is the preferred method for making Internet purchases in China.

Reference: "Apple revamps its China App Store" article in San Jose Mercury News, by John Boudreau 

Smartphone Market Share in China

Nokia          78.5 %
Motorola      9.2%
Apple           5.7%
HTC            3.9%
YULONG   2.0%


source: Gartner, second quarter 2010

Reference: "Apple revamps its China App Store" article in San Jose Mercury News, by John Boudreau