Last week, we posted a picture from the same vantage point of the un-opened flagship Hong Kong Apple Store at IFC Center. Today however, one of our wonderful tipsters has sent over a first look at the new Hong Kong Apple Store with the curtains taken down. As you can see, this Apple Store is looking absolutely beautiful!
In the inside, you’ll notice employees beginning their training for the grand opening this Saturday, September 24th. Notice that glass staircase running through the center?
Apple felt incredibly bullish on China in today’s conference call, rattling off numbers that even Tim Cook admitted they wouldn’t have believed if they had been told a year ago. How big is China for Apple?
In the year ago quarter, Apple counted $630 Million in revenues from China. Today, Apple grew that by a factor of six to $3.8B of the total $28+B of their total revenues for the quarter. That’s 13.3% of Apple’s total business by revenue which now comes from China.
To put that in perspective, $3.8B would have been over two-thirds of Apple’s 2007 (iPhone release) same quarter revenue and more than Apple’s whole global revenue for June ’05.
Apple is also being aggressive in their China retail stores, choosing to open larger flagship stores which take more time to build. CFO Peter Oppenheimer mentioned that the Hong Kong Flagship store at the IFC would be opening this quarter. But Apple has an order of magnitude more stores opening up across China. Apple now sells through four stores. They have over 30 planned just for the next year.
If Apple’s growth in China stays on the current pace, which ‘scratching the surface’ seems to at least partially imply, China will account for over $20B in revenue at this time next year – which could start approach Apple’s US revenues even if Apple continues to grow globally as it has.
The gigantic glass display spans three 6 lanes of traffic.
Apple’s Hong Kong Flagship store just got the curtain treatment according to a 9to5mac reader Nastypenman. The IFC center is the gateway to Hong Kong from the Airport rail link (ferry terminal, subways, etc) and is in the heart of Central, Hong Kong’s premiere shopping and business district. The IFC had evict or relocate about 20 stores on two-three levels, circled below in this Macrumors report from March. It could be Apple’s most expensive store to date (rent-wise) as Hong Kong’s prices are some of the highest in the world and this is about the most sought-after spot in Hong Kong.
Apple is also rumored to be building another local store, possibly in Pacific Place a short walk away.
According to the WSJ, Foxconn has suspended production across many of its plants in China for two days while the government investigates the explosion that killed three people and injured many more.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., a Taiwan-based company better known by the trade name Foxconn that operates dozens of factories across China, said it closed all of its workshops that handle polishing for electronic parts and products pending further inspections.
At issue appears to be the flammable aluminum dust that comes from polishing parts like the iPad 2’s aluminum back. A student group out of Hong Kong called Sacom published a report on the dangers of flammable airborne aluminum dust in a report on May 6, saying workers complained about inhaling the dust and about poor ventilation. It isn’t clear whether the workshops referred to in Sacom’s report include the site of the accident.
The news is another setback for Foxconn, which is barely past a recent outbreak of public suicides.
Should the Chengdu production capacity not be restored anytime soon, Hon Hai may have to hire more expensive labor in Shenzhen, said Arthur Hsieh, an analyst at UBS.
While Foxconn has dominated the contract manufacturing industry until now, analysts say Hon Hai competitors like Singapore’s Flextronics Inc. and Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc. could try to woo some of its customers, including Apple.
