The Chinese people are very nationalistic, and they are extremely sensitive to perceived "humiliation,"especially by the West considering the history, about which Chinese are much more informed than Westerners. The former goodwill that American companies enjoyed in China is likely to evaporate and even reverse in a way that is not recoverable once new cultural patterns get established.
The CIA calls such unintended consequence of operations, "blowback." This may have been unintended but it was entirely forseeable and US companies lobbied their government to avoid it — unsuccessfully.
Secondly, the difference between Chinese electronics and Apple electronics has largely closed and Chinese product are much less expensive. Apple will likely have to cut prices to compete in emerging markets or see its appeal limited to the luxury market as Veblen goods.
RT
Apple iPhone sales look $9bn worse than expected, CEO blames China & cheap batteries
RT
Apple iPhone sales look $9bn worse than expected, CEO blames China & cheap batteries
It wasn't the Russians?
ReplyDeleteApple iPhone sales look $9bn worse than expected. CEO blames China & cheap batteries.
ReplyDeleteAny company that out-competes Apple is “blameworthy.” Apple itself can never be to blame.
Apple became smug, greedy, and lazy. And now they are whining.
“Apple shares plummeted after CEO Tim Cook revealed that the iPhone maker expects a drop of up to $9bn in revenue compared to its November report. More affordable battery replacements are to blame, among other things.”
There it is again. China is to “blame.”
“Twitter has met Apple's troubles with derision, with many pointing out that new models are massively overpriced while hardly being technological breakthroughs.”
May be Russia is to “blame.” Where’s the CNN “bombshell” on this?
Speaking of Russia, Apple is the number 2 seller of smartphones in Russia (after Samsung) and is falling. Number 3 (Huawei) will surpass Apple this year in Russia.
Here’s hoping that Apple goes the way of BlackBerry.