The Apple watch will soon be arriving in China, but what makes this different from the company's previous products and what can be done to make it more popular for consumers?
We go to Sam Duckett for the answers.
During a recent keynote speech, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the release date for the highly anticipated Apple watch. The Apple watch is set to have an initial release in several countries including China on April 24th 2015.
"But the one thing that's consistent, we crafted each one of them with the care you'd expect from Apple and used incredibly beautiful material. Like this stainless steel, and sapphire crystal, anodized aluminum, and a jaw-dropping, beautiful 18-carot gold. Now, in addition to being a beautiful object, the Apple Watch is the most advanced timepiece ever created."
This marks a mile stone for the respect that the American tech giant is finally giving to the Chinese market. The initial release of the Iphone and the Ipad were both several months behind the US. In fact due to regulation and administration issues, even the latest Iphone6 had a delayed release.
This time, however, apple has made sure China is amongst the first batch of consumers to get their hands on the company's latest toy. At the recent keynote speech Apple also announced the opening of their newest apple store in Xihu, China.
China is Apple's fastest-growing major market and is the company's third biggest globally, after the Americas and Europe. Last year, Apple reported sales of $5.9 billion in China from April to June, a 28 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
Financial Analyst Alex Witt talked about why China is such an important market for Apple.
"Firstly, China is the largest smart phone market in the world with over 520 million users; China is really hungry for a premium brand. Xiaomi, Lenovo and HTC are great brands with great products but they do not have the same premium status as apple. They (apple) fill an uptake in the market that does not exist at the moment. The uptake in China has also increased with the introduction of a large screen. Previously Samsung was gaining a lot of market share because they had a large screen where as apple didn't offer the large screen, now they offer the 6 plus you are seeing that samsung's luster and appeal amongst consumers has gone down significantly."
If apple wants the apple watch to see the same success its other products have enjoyed, the software market in China will also need to make strong consistent applications for the new device.
Popular applications such as Tencent's Wechat and Sina Weibo are expected to see quick releases for the apple watch. But it will also be a tool for health, online payments, weather, music and variety of other features. There will be a lot of room of Chinese developers to experiment in this brand new market.
Qian Qingquan is a feelance mobile game developer in Beijing,
"First of all, I don't think this will have huge effect on the mobile gaming market; not in the same way that the mobile gaming market had an effect on the traditional gaming market. I think it will focus on the AR and motion sensor market and the games on this platform will be different from traditional mobile games."
There a multitude of ways in which the apple watch could be successful in China, the key will be taping into key markets that interest Chinese consumers such as Air Quality, traffic reports, social media and domestic news. How successful will this product be in the company's fastest growing market? Only time will tell..
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