Imagine a market so big, that even with phenomenal popularity and growth of your own product, the impact is negligible.
That
is the position Apple is finding itself in with the world’s largest
smartphone market. With smartphone shipments increasing 30% quarter
over quarter, Apple’s market share is creeping up about
half-a-percentage point for the same period. Indeed, Apple sold over 2
million iPhones in the opening weekend in China late last year.
Despite
that, Apple does not even make the top five list of manufacturers.
According to research done by Canalys, Apple’s growth in China is being
held back by lack of a low-priced device and lack of a deal to offer its
handset through the country’s largest carrier, China Mobile.
The top player in China is Samsung with 16% market share and rounding
out the rest of the top five are all Chinese companies, Lenovo in
second, Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific, Huawei and ZTE.
During the fourth quarter, over 65 million smartphones shipped in China,
however the average cost of those devices was only $79. All the top
market leaders have low-cost options for their customers.
We have
seen our share of rumors over an affordable entry-level type iPhone,
but nothing has really developed from them. However, Apple was just
granted a patent in late January (patent number 8,364,032) for what
might be a low-end device. There is only one bland drawing on hand, but
it may be what Apple has in mind to make a grab at China (and possibly
India), plastic, low-spec CPU, non-Retina display, and basic form
factor.
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