Apple flexes its muscles in China with another megastore unveiled on Friday. Located in the upscale Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, the outlet replaces and doubles the size of the first Apple store in China in the same location, which immediately made an impression in 2008.
The iconic building reopened in the heat of U.S. control over the hardware giant's ties to China. In a speech made Thursday, Attorney General William Barr attacked a number of American tech companies, including Apple, for sticking to Chinese rules. He identified Apple as "acquiescence towards the Chinese communists".
Apple has long relied on China not only for production partners, but also to generate revenue from the App Store (especially games) and iPhone sales. However, local smartphone makers such as Huawei, which opened its largest store to date in June, have cut Apple's Chinese market share in the past few quarters, leaving the American giant in fifth place with around 10% of the shipment. total, according to Counterpoint Research.
Barr agitated Apple for tearing up apps on behalf of the Chinese government. The reasons behind these bans can range from sensitive political muting services, such as a map used in Hong Kong protests, to the closure of a regulatory loophole, which has led to the removal of thousands of unlicensed games in China.
The new premise presents Apple's first integrated solar array in a retail store in China, which allows you to supply energy to the underlying store like all Apple facilities around the world that run exclusively on renewable energy. The company claims to support enough clean energy in China to power over 450,000 homes annually.
Over the past 12 years, the Sanlitun store has grown from 52 to 185 employees and has attracted over 22 million visitors.
Source link
