Apple Inc may have surpassed Lenovo Group’s (聯想集團) revenue in Greater China for the first time in at least a decade as the US firm’s surge in sales hurt growth at the biggest Chinese computer maker.
Lenovo’s combined revenue in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan last quarter lagged behind the US$3.8 billion for Apple, according to four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp’s PC business in 2005, this week added two new tablet PCs in the US featuring Google Inc’s Android software to take on Apple in its home turf.
Overtaking Lenovo within two years of introducing the iPhone in China shows the progress Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs is making in luring buyers in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook told analysts this week that the company was only “scratching the surface” in the country.
“Apple is doing very well in China,” said Jean-Louis Lafayeedney at JI Asia in Hong Kong.
Apple’s growth may become a concern for Lenovo unless the Chinese company increases sales of its new smartphones and tablet computers soon, said Lafayeedney, who has a “buy” rating on Lenovo.
Lenovo generated US$3 billion in sales from China in the quarter ended June 30, according to Jenny Lai (賴惠娟), head of Taiwan research at HSBC Holdings PLC. She had the highest of the analysts’ estimates in the Bloomberg survey.
All four analysts said Lenovo’s revenue from Hong Kong and Taiwan were not enough to take its total for the Greater China region past that of Apple’s. That would make it the first time Apple posted higher sales than Lenovo in the region since at least 1998, when the Chinese company acquired parent Legend Group’s PC business.
Expansion into China and other emerging markets helped make up for slower growth in the US. Sales in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong totaled US$8.8 billion in the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Apple said.
“China was very key to our results,” Cook said on Tuesday. “This has been a substantial opportunity for Apple, and I firmly believe that we’re just scratching the surface right now.”
For Lenovo, Apple’s rising popularity means increasing competition in China, where its brand adorns every PC out of three.
The introduction of tablet computers by competitors weakened growth in China’s PC market, Lenovo chief executive officer Yang Yuanqing (楊元慶) said in February. Apple started selling its iPad tablet in China in September last year.
“We do not comment on the business results of other companies,” Lenovo said in an e-mail. “Our results in China have been strong. Lenovo is the number one PC company in China with more than 30 percent market share — more than 3 times our nearest competitor.”
“The iPad has eroded sales at not only Lenovo, but all local computer makers,” Lai said.
Lenovo will start selling two tablet computers based on Android technology in the US in the coming month, and add another device powered by Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 in the fourth quarter. It started selling its LePad tablet in its home market in March.
“Our products will be competitive,” Yang said yesterday in Hong Kong, where Lenovo held a shareholders’ meeting, noting the new tablet devices were priced lower than similar Apple products.
“Lenovo is playing catch-up in the tablet and smartphone market, and it’s going to be difficult for them,” said Vincent Chen (陳豊丰) at Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) in Taipei. “Apple is such a strong brand that it’s hard to see any one single company that could compete against them.”
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS