Holiday may boost sales of new iPads

Updated: 2013-10-24 07:34

By Shen Jingting (China Daily)

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Chinese customers can buy the new iPads next month in Apple's retail stores, starting with the WiFi only models.

Xiang Ligang, a Beijing-based telecom expert, said that third-generation iPad models still require Chinese authorities' approval to be sold in the country.

"Before Apple sells 3G iPads in China, the company needs to apply for licenses to gain access to China's wireless networks. It's unknown whether Apple has got the licenses or not," Xiang said.

Officials from Chinese telecom operators said on Wednesday that they hadn't heard of any plans to introduce 3G iPads with subsidies.

"We have not cooperated with Apple to introduce 3G iPads to the Chinese market previously, but we can't exclude that possibility in the future," said Wen Baoqiu, spokesman for China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the nation's second-biggest telecom carrier by user base.

China will once again be among the first countries to get Apple's newest products, showing that the company is paying more attention to the nation, said Liu.

"There is no doubt that China offers great potential, so Apple has to invest more resources in it. But on the other hand, the intensifying competition in China's tablet computer market also forced the US-based Apple to take it seriously," Liu said.

Dickie Chang, a Hong Kong-based analyst with IDC, has said previously that the market share of Android-based tablets, such as those produced by Samsung, is growing rapidly.

Chang said that is because "there is a much bigger user base that is already familiar with the system, because of the smartphones they use".

In 2010 and 2011, Apple had more than half of China's tablet computer market, but its share contracted because of stronger challenges.

But Yang Haifeng, a telecom expert who is also chief editor of Communications World Weekly, said that Apple still has a dominant position in China's tablet market that no other company can match.

"In the tablet sector, Apple doesn't face the same challenges it's encountering in the smartphone market. Apple seems like the only choice for high-end buyers," Yang said.

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