Apple expanding China business beyond big cities to spur growth

san francisco — Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook is working to broaden the company’s distribution in China as a way to reignite growth after the iPhone maker reported its first decline in annual profit in at least a decade.

Cook said Apple is expanding how it sells the iPhone and iPad tablet in China, focusing on areas outside the country’s largest cities. The Cupertino, California-based company is adding more outlets besides Apple stores to sell its devices, and the iPhone is now available in 50 per cent more stores in the country than last year, he said on a conference call this week.

Apple’s sales in China rose six per cent in the recent quarter to $5.7 billion, making it the company’s second-biggest market after the US Yet it lags behind Samsung Electronics and local manufacturers who offer cheaper smartphones and tablets with more design choices than the iPhone and iPad. China is critical as Apple seeks to jump-start sales and profit growth, which have stalled in the increasingly crowded mobile market. Apple’s “one-size-fits-all” approach is more challenging in China, said Robin Li, co-founder and chief executive officer of Baidu, China’s largest search engine.

It will take more than new stores to draw in customers, Li said. Mobile phones need to be more customised for the Chinese market, and buyers in the country tend to prefer larger screens and the ability to personalise their devices with software tools to tap out messages more quickly in Chinese, he said. — Bloomberg