Posted on Saturday, July 10 2010 @ 12:00 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Lenovo founder and chairman Liu Chuanzhi
told FT that his company is fortunate that Apple doesn't spend a lot of effort on the Chinese consumer:
Apple is missing a huge opportunity in the Chinese market, according to Liu Chuanzhi, the head of Lenovo, the country’s leading PC maker. Additionally, Liu also expects China will eventually replace the US as a global tech trend-setter, and that this will force tech firms to set their roadmaps to follow Chinese consumer tastes.
Speaking of Apple’s chief executive, Lenovo’s founder and chairman, told the Financial Times: “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.”
His comments come as Lenovo recovers from the financial crisis, mainly boosted by its strength in China. The company holds about 30 per cent of its home market, which is one of the fastest growing globally and which is expected to become the world’s largest within a year.
Apple’s products are proving to be as desirable for Chinese consumers as for their international peers, but official channels for their sale are extremely limited. The company has only a handful of flagship stores and authorised resellers in the country’s largest cities.
