May 2, 2024

Tim Cook on China: 'We Didn't Bet High Enough'

Posted January 25, 2012 at 3:09pm by iClarified · 8150 views
Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company 'didn't bet high enough' on the demand for their iPhone 4S smartphone in China, reports Bloomberg.

"We thought we were betting bold," Cook said about sales of the device in China on a conference call yesterday. "We didn't bet high enough."

After a near riot broke out at its Beijing Store on the iPhone 4S' launch day, local police determined that the situation wasn't safe and ordered Apple to close the location. The company rushed to control fallout out from the incident and halted the in-store sale of iPhones in all its Chinese stores.

With sales halted at its China retail outlets, Apple is now offering the iPhone through China Unicom and its online store.

Chinese demand for the handset is "off the charts," said Cook. When questioned about adding a second carrier partner in China, he declined to give any concrete information.

"China Unicom continues to be a very key partner," he said on the call. "I've got nothing to announce today on an expansion there, but as I've consistently said, China is an extremely important market for us and we continue to look at how to grow it further."

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