China Will Be Apple’s Biggest Market, Says Tim Cook

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook was on a visit to China this week and was considerably impressed by the secondary market and its significance. He said that it’s very much possible that in the future the company might launch some of its Apple products in China. A Chinese government agency was told by Tim Cook that the United States might be taken over by China as the biggest market of Apple Inc. The CEO of the US giant gave an exclusive interview in Beijing. He clearly stated that the company is growing very rapidly and they will be making continuous investment in retail stores.

He added that the company had selected several sites for the stores and had a manufacturing base and partners as well. Currently, the company has a total of 11 retail stores that are spread around in Hong Kong, Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Shanghai. The largest retail store in Asia is the one that was opened last year in October in Beijing, in its commercial hub of Wangfujing. However, the CEO did not mention when exactly China would be taking over the United States. No comment could be obtained from the spokespersons of Apple in China.

According to the company, growth has slowed down a little in the last year even though in 2010 and 2011, sales of the products had doubled. The iPads, iPhones and other gadgets of Apple Inc. are an extreme hit with the highest-earning consumers of China. But the problem is that handsets using the Google Android operating system are dominating the fast growing smartphone market. The purpose of Cook’s visit was to attend meetings with managers of state-owned Unicom that is the first carrier of China to support the iPhone and also with the Chinese regulators.

However, the CEO made no response to the rumors that have been flying about the development of a low-end iPhone. He also met China Mobile’s chairman, which is the biggest phone carrier of the world and its subscribers has surpassed 700 million. The iPhone is not supported by China Mobile currently and it would Apple would greatly benefit if an agreement was made with the mobile phone carrier. The CEO also responded to the complaints that were being made at Foxconn regarding wages and work. This is the Taiwanese manufacturer responsible for assembling Apple’s products in Chinese factories.