Apple to open 25 new retail stores in China over next 2 years

For Apple, greater China has been one of its fastest growing markets for iPhone sales, so the company wants to more than double its presence there.

对于苹果公司来说，大中华区一直是iPhone销售增长最快的市场之一，因此，它想要把这里的业务扩大一倍以上。

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in an interview with Sina, the Chinese media outlet, on Thursday that Apple planned to open 25 new retail stores in greater China over the next two years, adding to the 15 stores it currently operates in the region.

周四，苹果首席执行官蒂莫西·D·库克在接受中国媒体新浪采访时说，未来两年，苹果计划在目前15家直营零售店的基础上，在大中华区再开设25家新店。

Mr. Cook essentially reiterated what he said earlier this week about Apple’s worldwide expansion in a call with analysts after the company released quarterly earnings results. But his comments to Chinese news outlets add emphasis to the company’s determination to expand in that market.

库克实际上在重申本周早些时候在面向分析师的电话会议上提到的苹果全球扩张计划。不过，他对中国媒体所做的评论突显了苹果在这一市场上扩张的决心。

Many of the new stores he spoke of in the analysts’ call will be in greater China, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which shows that Apple is hoping most of its future growth will come from there.

他在与分析师的电话会议上提到的计划开设的新店中，许多将出现在由中国大陆、香港和台湾组成的大中华区。这显示出，苹果将未来的大部分增长寄希望于这一地区。

Mr. Cook also told Sina that it was only a matter of time until most of Apple’s sales come from greater China. Over the last quarter, about 14 percent of Apple’s sales came from that region.

库克还告诉新浪，苹果今后的大部分销售将来自大中华区，这只是个时间问题。上个季度，这里贡献了苹果约14%的销售额。

For Apple, becoming big in China is no easy feat. The Asian handset makers Xiaomi, Samsung, Lenovo, Yulong and Huawei dominate the Chinese market. Apple is No. 6. Apple also faces a particularly tough competitor in Xiaomi, which quickly rose to the top of the Chinese smartphone market with its unique business model of selling phones nearly at cost and making money from software and Internet services.

对于苹果来说，在中国不断成长并非易事。在中国市场占主导地位的是亚洲手机生产商：小米、三星、联想、宇龙和华为。苹果的占有率仅排在第六位。苹果还面临着来自小米的尤其强劲的竞争。凭借着独特的商业模式——几乎以成本价销售手机，再利用软件和互联网服务盈利——小米已迅速成为中国智能手机市场的领军者。

However, there is lots of potential for Apple to become much bigger in China. In its third fiscal quarter, Apple’s revenue in China grew 28 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. And this year Apple began selling iPhones on China Mobile, the largest phone carrier in the world, with about 800 million subscribers.

不过，苹果扩大在华业务的潜力巨大。公司第三财季的在华营收同比增长了28%。今年，苹果还开始通过中国移动销售iPhone。中国移动是世界上最大的手机运营商，拥有约8亿用户。

When reached, an Apple spokeswoman had not yet received an English transcript of Mr. Cook’s interview with Sina.

在记者与苹果联系时，公司的一位女发言人表示，尚未得到库克与新浪对话的英文版采访实录。