"China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first. I believe strongly that it will," the Xinhua News Agency quoted Cook as saying in an interview.
"We are growing very fast. We are continuing to invest in retail stores here and will open many more over the next several years. We have some great sites selected, our manufacturing base is here, and we have incredible partners here. So it's a very, very important country to us."
At present, the greater China region accounts for about 15 per cent of Apple's total revenue and that number is rising quickly.
China is the largest market in the world for activation of smartphones and will soon have more smartphone owners than any other country. Most of the phones are currently inexpensive Android devices, so Apple has challenges to overcome in the market.
In an interview with Chinese news site Sina, Cook said that he believes China will become Apple's most important market in the "not too distant future." He also sounded an optimistic note over his latest talk with China Mobile, but declined to divulge details about whether or not he has managed to ink a deal with the world's largest carrier, with which the Cupertino company has been stuck in negotiations for years.
Earlier this week, Cook also met with Miao Wei, minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the agency responsible for approving Apple products before their launch in that country.
Cook met with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua on Thursday. Cook is reportedly aiming to finally gain access to the carrier's 700 million subscribers.
Cook told Sina it has become a "top priority" for him that China becomes one of the first regions in each Apple rollout. For achieving this, he has been working diligently to cooperate with the government approval process for each new device in order to shrink the time between it's U.S. and China debuts.
Cook, who stated in the interview that he has visited China at least 20 times since 1996 and has a Chinese sister-in-law, also emphasized that Apple focuses on the needs of Chinese consumers when developing new products. For example, Apple made sure that both OSX and iOS had capabilities and functions tailored for the Chinese market.
At present, Apple has 11 stores in China and Hong Kong, as well as a wide network of Apple resellers. Cook hopes to increase the number of official Apple stores in the region to 25.
Apple's products have been at times generated long lines outside stores. iPad sales continue to dominate China's tablet space. But in smartphones, Apple has struggled to maintain a leading market share.
In last year's third quarter, Apple fell out of the country's rankings for top five smartphone vendors, with Samsung and Chinese handset makers leading the pack. Apple's newly launched iPhone 5, however, is expected to help the company regain market share, according to analysts.
The report gave no details of when Cook thought China sales might overtake the United States. Apple Inc. spokespeople in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple has said sales in China more than doubled in 2010 and 2011 though growth has slowed in the past year.
Apple's iPhones, iPads and other gadgets are popular with China's highest-earning consumers but its fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by handsets that use rival Google Inc.'s Android system.
Cook was in Beijing to meet with Chinese regulators and managers of state-owned China Unicom Ltd., the first Chinese carrier to support Apple's iPhone.
Xinhua said Cook did not respond to rumors Apple might be developing a lower-cost iPhone for developing markets such as China.
According to Xinhua, Cook responded to complaints about wages and other work issues at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles Apple's products in vast factories in China, by saying his company enforces strict codes of conduct for its suppliers.
"We care very deeply about every worker that touches an Apple product, whether they are making it, selling it, serving it or marketing it. We hold ourselves to a very high standard there," he was quoted as saying.
Source: http://www.albuquerquenews.net/index.php/sid/211886197/scat/3a8a80d6f705f8cc
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