【英语中国】苹果在中国开设第二家旗舰店

Hundreds of people lined up Saturday to be among the first to enter Apple Inc.'s newest store in China.

The 16,000-square-foot (1,500-square-meter) underground space in Shanghai, China's wealthiest city, marks the start of a major retail expansion in a country where the company so far has had a relatively meager presence.

Apple -- which has one other Chinese store, in Beijing -- has said it plans to open 25 stores in China by the end of next year, including a second store in Shanghai.

Apple's flagship stores, which like the Shanghai outlet often sport eye-catching architecture, are a key part of the Cupertino, Calif.-company's branding strategy.

China is the world's largest handset market and second largest personal-computer market after the U.S. But while other PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. have rushed to expand retail channels in China in recent years, Apple has moved ploddingly.

It opened the Beijing store two years ago, and otherwise relies on a network of authorized resellers for distribution.

Apple has been slower than rivals to expand overseas markets in general, even as it has grown rapidly at home and is now the world's biggest technology company by market value.

Research firm IDC said Apple PCs made up less than 1% of total PCs shipped in China as of the first quarter. In the U.S., Apple claimed 6.4% of PC shipments, IDC said.

'Apple is definitely a laggard when it comes to focusing on China,' said Shaun Rein, managing director of Shanghai-based consulting firm China Market Research Group. He said that 'Apple needs to make China a priority market,' or risk seeing an impact on its sales growth.

Apple has said it is accelerating its push overseas. Just 62 of Apple's 283 retail stores at the end of December were international outlets, but the company has said that more than half of the 40 to 50 new stores it plans to open in the current fiscal year, ending in September, will be outside the U.S.

Apple's plan to open more stores in China shows 'they recognize the importance of these markets outside of the Western world that they're used to,' said Bryan Ma, analyst for IDC in Singapore.

He added that the company's plan to start international sales of the iPhone 4, the latest version of its popular smartphone, more quickly than with previous models is also a sign of greater focus outside its home market.

Apple has said it will release the device in dozens of countries by September, although it hasn't specifically set the timetable for China.

Despite its relatively small presence in China, Apple enjoys high brand awareness among wealthier consumers here. Its products are seen by many in first-tier cities as status symbols.

At the Shanghai store opening, one Apple fan, holding a homemade poster of Chief Executive Steve Jobs, said he flew to Shanghai from Jilin province, nearly 1,000 miles (more than 1,000 kilometers) to the north, to attend the opening, and lined up for five days. By Friday night, the crowd at the Shanghai store had grown to about 150 people, some wearing iPhone 4 T-shirts. Several people there said they hoped to be able to buy the iPhone 4 or iPad, which also hasn't started selling yet in China. But neither of those products was in showrooms, though the earlier version of the iPhone was in stock.

Apple declined to say when the iPhone 4 and the iPad will be available in China, though Apple's current Chinese partner for the iPhone, state-owned carrier China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., has said it is in talks to sell the new model.

Analysts say a delayed release, among other factors, slowed authorized sales of the existing iPhone models in China, as users go to the 'gray market' to buy unauthorized imports of Apple products.

IDC estimates 760,000 Unicom iPhones were sold in the first two quarters of its official release in China, accounting for 2% of China's smartphone market as of the first quarter, and less than 1% of China's overall handset market.

Apple sold 8.4 million iPhones world-wide in the first quarter alone, according to research firm Gartner.

Consulting firm BDA China Ltd. estimates about 2 million to 3 million iPhones have been purchased in China via the gray market. But even that is a relatively small share of the total. China has more than 780 million mobile accounts.

IDC expects the Chinese PC market will grow more than 20% annually over the next five years, and smartphone penetration is seen increasing as well, which will create more opportunities for Apple.

'I wouldn't say the game is over yet,' Mr. Ma said.

周六，数百人在苹果公司（Apple Inc.）中国最新门店前排队，希望成为第一批进入该商店的人。

中国市场研究集团（China Market Research Group）董事总经理Shaun Rein说，在大力拓展中国市场方面，苹果绝对是个落后者。他说，苹果需要把中国作为一个重要市场，否则其销售增长将受到影响。

苹果曾表示，它将加速向海外市场推进。截止12月底，苹果283家零售店中仅有62家是在海外开设的，但该公司表示，在截至9月的当前财政年度，计划开设的40至50家新店铺中有超过一半将在美国以外。

IDC驻新加坡分析师Bryan Ma说，苹果计划在中国开设更多店铺，说明他们认识到在西方世界以外这些市场的重要性。

Bryan Ma补充说，公司计划较以前型号更快的速度在国际市场销售iPhone 4，是苹果更关注美国以外市场的信号。

苹果此前表示，将于9月前在许多国家推出iPhone 4，不过没有明确制定在中国的时间表。

尽管苹果在中国店铺相对较少，但苹果在富裕的消费者群里有较高的品牌认知度，一线城市里的许多人把苹果产品当作地位的象征。

在上海旗舰店开张之际，一位拿着自制苹果首席执行长乔布斯（Steve Jobs）海报的苹果粉丝说，他从吉林省飞到上海来参加开张典礼，已经排了五天的队。周五晚上，苹果上海店铺门口的人群已达到约150人，一些人穿着印有iPhone 4图片的T恤衫。排队中的几个人说，他们希望能够买到iPhone 4 或 iPad，而后者尚未在中国开始销售。虽然iPhone稍早型号有库存，但iPhone 4 和iPad都没有出现在展室。

苹果拒绝说出iPhone 4和iPad何时在中国可以买到，不过苹果在中国的iPhone合并伙伴──国有电信运营商中国联通已表示，它正在就出售新型号iPhone进行着磋商。

分析师说，延迟推出等其他因素导致了iPhone现有型号手机在中国的授权销售延缓，用户只有到“灰市”才能买到未经授权的进口苹果产品。

IDC估计，中国官方正式推出联通iPhone后的头两个季度已售出760,000支联通iPhone手机，占第一季度中国智能手机市场的2%，在中国整体手机市场中所占份额不到1%。

根据研究机构Gartner数据，仅第一季度苹果就在全球售出了840万支iPhone手机。

咨询机构BDA China Ltd.估计，人们在中国灰市已购买了约200-300万支iPhone手机，尽管如此，这在总体数据中仍只占相对较小的比例。中国有超过7.8亿个手机用户。

IDC预计未来五年中国电脑市场每年增长超过20%，智能手机渗透率也将增加，这将为苹果创造更多机会。

Bryan Ma说，我还不会说游戏已经结束了。