News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

July 23, 2008

business

Why can’t Apple and China just be friends?

Posted Jul. 23, ’08, 7:46 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Business

chinaIncompatible2.jpgBecause Mike Elgan says so, that’s why.

He penned a piece at Datamation attempting to explain the ‘incompatibility’ between Apple and China that has prevented Apple from effectively extending its business, and therefore its market share, throughout the People’s Republic.

Apple may have opened its first store in China, but that doesn’t seem to represent strong growth in the country: the company’s products occupy only 8% of their media player market, and less than 1% of the PC market; the iPhone isn’t even officially supported—though some estimate that there are over a million unlocked iPhones in-use by the Chinese.

So what’s the problem? Elgan lists what he believes are the four primary causes of the rift:

  • Apple is a mass-market luxury brand - the Chinese don’t care about brand
  • China has an authoritarian government - Apple may be expected to modify products to satisfy the government
  • There is no Chinese iTunes - though we don’t know why
  • China is number one in intellectual property theft - Apple’s business model depends on safeguarding its IP

The iPhone is undoubtedly Apple’s biggest challenge in China—the record labels would probably prevent the launch of a Chinese iTunes Store; and, to comply with the government’s internet policies, Apple would probably be forced to eliminate the iPhone’s WiFi feature.

I always thought it was for another reason: The Chinese speak Chinese, and, as far as I can tell, Steve Jobs doesn’t. Which would complicate things.

But who knows.


6 Comments

Austin said:

Hey, how'd you get that little dialog box with the 'Incompatible Country' dialog? I need to know how to do that, it's so cool.

July 23, 2008 10:05 PM
Dan Pourhadi said:

@Austin - I used AppleScript to create a dialog box, then I took a screenshot of it.

Here is the AppleScript code I used, inputted into Script Editor:

display dialog "The country \"China\" cannot be dominated by your products because its population and government are incompatible with your business model." with icon stop with title "Incompatible Country"

July 23, 2008 10:46 PM
jayH said:

hmm the chinese LOVE brand names... so much so that the counterfeit everything they possibly can...

July 24, 2008 6:21 AM
Anonymous said:

As far as I know Steve Jobs doesn't speak dutch either, and still the Mac and especially the iPhone are successful in the Netherlands.

July 24, 2008 9:37 AM
vdot90 Author Profile Page said:

As someone who has lived and actively worked with Mainland Chinese on a daily basis, I can comment on a few things:

Modern Chinese people are crazy about brand names. There's a reason why there's a queue in front of Louis Vuitton on a regular basis. As a country with the economic market opened only recently, there's a lot of people with saved-up money and they're very willing to spend it on luxury goods.

And in my personal opinion, Apple really needs to get their iPhone into that market. Quite a few of my colleagues there were more than happy to spend money (sometimes as much as twice their monthly salary) for the Motorola RAZR back when it was hott.

I'm sure i can't speak for ALL chinese people, but it's definitely not untrue among the younger hipster crowd. I think America has a very skewed perspective about that country and its people.

July 24, 2008 9:59 AM
SOnline said:

The Chinese don't care about brand?? Where are you living Elgin???

Here in toronto, where we have a giant Chinese population, one can spot them a mile away by searching for louis vuitton purses and Merceded cars. Yikes, what a stupid, uneducated comment. Piffle.

July 24, 2008 5:38 PM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: