Apple Expands in China, Local Smartphone Brands Look Overseas
Einhorn, Bruce [2014], “As Apple Expands in China, Local Smartphone Brands Look Overseas”, Business Week, New York, 15 de enero, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-01-15/as-apple-expands-in-chin...
Apple is getting more aggressive in China. After years of fruitless talks, Apple and China Mobile agreed last month to work together to sell the iPhone to the more than 760 million Chinese users of China Mobile's network. Even if China Mobile and Apple don't meet expectations of 12 million new iPhone sales this year, closer ties between the two heavyweights will likely make business more challenging for some of the top Chinese brands. Local smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, Huawei Technologies, and Lenovo rely on their home market of China and other parts of Asia for the bulk of their smartphone sales. Executives at the biggest Chinese maker of smartphones, Huawei Technologies, are working on that. The Shenzhen-based company has traditionally relied on equipment sales to telecom operators and other corporate customers but is now making a greater effort to build its consumer business. Huawei is making progress building its smartphone business.