I’m sure by now everyone has seen Apple’s earnings, and the inevitable smattering of articles pointing at how important China is to the world’s most valuable company. But if you’re an investor, this may smell like China’s peak rather than its growth.
Although Apple still has room for growth in China, it appears that the smartphone giant is now looking down south to Southeast Asia. Consider the following:
- Leaked rumors of Apple opening up its own outlet in Singapore
- Apple is also opening up a subsidiary in Vietnam
- Apple hiring for a retail build manager in Jakarta
Beyond these first steps into Southeast Asia, let’s consider the numbers. In 2013, Android was leading Southeast Asia over iOS. But this is still true of China also. As Apple has shown, marketshare isn’t the winning strategy for them, it’s positioning. Most smartphone owners, as they realize the importance of the smartphone to their lives, want to move up the chain to the best smartphones, and this is where Apple positions itself successfully. It’s why Apple is killing it in China.
By this logic, if we consider that Android has slowly come to dominate Southeast Asia, than it’s only natural for iOS to slowly encroach on this. Southeast Asians are just as status conscious as Chinese people are.
And it’s about time Apple opens up in Southeast Asia. It just did in the Middle East, in a region of over 200 million people. Now, here come the Apple Stores for a region of over 600 million people.
Editing by Terence Lee
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