By Chris Chang, posted Apr 25, 2011 at 7:16 AM, 947 views,

iPhone’s Fastest Growing Market is China!

Unbelievable. In Apple’s Q2 conference call, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said that for the first three months of 2011, iPhone sales in “Greater China” grew by almost 250 percent from the same period last year. This brought Apple’s revenues in the first fiscal half to just under $5 billion for the Chinese market, an increase of almost four times from 2010. Everything just sounds incredible huh?

Guess what, there are 850 million mobile customers in China, and Apple’s iPhone is doing extremely well, now accounting for 8.3 percent of those customers. That’s an increase from the 5.4 percent it held at the beginning of the year 2010, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. However, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola still continue to lead in the Chinese market. Here’s what Tim Cook added in the conference call,

“So we’re extremely happy with how we’re doing in China,”
“In the U.S., iPhone sales grew by 155 percent.”

So why the iPhone is so popular in China? Well, Mark Natkin, the managing director for Beijing-based research firm Marbridge Consulting, has a good explanation for that.

“The iPhone 4’s appealing features and user interface have made it an attractive smartphone for buyers in China. Furthermore, the device is a status symbol in China,”

And he further added.

“If you look at the Apple experience store in Beijing, it’s packed everyday,”
“People have a very high regard for the Apple brand and for its ability to innovate.”

In mainland China, getting an iPhone 4 is the perfect gift for your client. A client will not be interested on any other gifts such as valuable wine, Rolex watch, or branded handbags. If you have an iPhone for him/her, he/she will spare some time to listen to your great proposal. Like what Natkin said, iPhone is a status symbol in the country, if you are carrying an iPhone, friends/relatives will respect you, or even treat you like a God (just kidding). That also explains why we are seeing so many iPhone knockoffs in China. There are some people who could not afford the real iPhone, so they will head to the shanzhai market and get a fake one. One will use it when he/she goes to a cocktail party. A ‘normal’ businessman could not tell if your iPhone is real or fake when he/she looks at you speaking on the phone.

Anyway, it’s actually not a surprise to see the iPhone’s fastest growing market is China, since we have seen ridiculous news reporting the ‘hardworking’ Chinese iPhone scalpers getting numerous of iPhones from the Apple store. iPhone scalpers in China are extraordinary. They work in a big team, consisting 50-100 members, and they have a target of getting at least 100 iPhones from the Apple store everyday. They have people queuing up outside the Apple store everyday, and keeping eyes on the Apple online store. Any available stocks will belong to them, there’s no chance for a local fanboy to get one.

Don’t forget, if iPhone is popular in China, the iPhone knockoff will have a huge demand too!

Source: MacWorld