China overtook the US this year as the largest smart phone market in the world. In the second quarter Apple's market share halved to 10%. Wall Street Journal reported today that Apple's market share dropped to 6.9% this quarter even as Lenovo's market share increased from 1.7% to 14.8% for the quarter ending September. While I do not think quality is the reason for Apple not being successful in emerging market. I do think that Apple's strategy of using wireless providers as the default gateway for sales is one of the reasons. In much of the world, consumers buy their own phones at full price and then select a wireless provider. When the consumer is paying a full price, value for money and quality has a bigger impact. Samsung is still the market leader in China but Lenovo is expected to be the largest in China in 2013. As an Apple shareholder I would like to see Apple focus on the rest of the world including the emerging economies where the smart phone market is not yet saturated like the west. I would also like to see Apple overcome their supply chain issues and sell iPhones to all who want to buy it in the US. (Apple still does not sell unlocked iPhone 5 to customers outside of the big 3 wireless providers). No doubt it does sell iPhone 4S etc to anyone who wants to buy one.
