Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has posted impressive sales of iPads in mainland China during the holiday quarter. The sales more than doubled during the season, and the company also saw solid growth in emerging markets like Latin America and Russia, according to Peter Oppenheimer, CFO of the company.
Oppenheimer said that more details on the performance in China, which is the second largest market of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) after the United States, will be revealed later.
Strategy of including China in tier 1 category working
In China, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has performed quite well with Greater China region- Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan becoming the spots where the company posted the biggest increase in revenue compared to other geographical regions. Revenue of the company, in these regions, surged 29% from the previous year to $8.84 billion against North America and Latin America, where revenue declined 1% from the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Greater China contributed more than 15% to the total revenue posted by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the quarter compared to 13%, in the previous year.
The iPhone maker altered the timing of the release for China. In September, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) included China in tier 1 countries to get iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. Previously, China was not amongst the first countries to get an Apple product. For iPad, also, the company followed a similar strategy, when it launched it in China on November 1 along with U.S. and other countries.
Analysts looking for details on Apple-China Mobile deal
China is the world’s biggest smartphone market and a highly significant market for Apple along with its rivals like Samsung Electronics. According to research firm Canalys, total smartphones sold in China last year came in at 354 million, which is twice of what sold in the United States. It expects shipments to increase to 422 million units this year.
Analysts as well as investors are curious to know the result of Apple’s deal with China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE:CHL) that started selling iPhones for the first time on January 17th.
“I think you can’t be the business that we’re in and not have a reasonable China business, and you can see how we did last quarter and we’ve now followed that up with a deal with China Mobile,” said Tim Cook during an earnings conference call with analysts on Monday.
Japan, where iPhones are available on carrier NTTDoCoMo, also benefited Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) significantly, and revenue increased 11% to $4.95 compared to the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
