Bloomberg: Apple to grow aggressively in China

New York -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Apple plans to double its number of retail stores in China over the next two years to help offset slowing growth worldwide.



CEO Tim Cook said in a Tuesday conference call that Apple’s 2Q sales in the greater China region increased 11% to a record $8.8 billion, from the 67% pace of growth in the prior quarter. A slowdown globally is prompting the company to shore up sales in China, and that is with more units than the current 11, said Cook. But, say analysts, his plan isn’t aggressive enough.



“Doubling stores over two years is simply not enough,” Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai, told Bloomberg. “Their sales growth is really collapsing.”



The newly announced plan is off the pace set by former head of retail operations Ron Johnson, who set a target of 25 stores by February 2012.