4 ms·

So, premium gadgets are worse off in a country where the entire national income is about 2.5 times less than the disposable income of the USA? Shocking.

wisty 16y ago
Na. Chinese pay good money for high quality stuff. They'll pay a high proportion of their income into a few well-targeted purchases. If they don't want a good item, then they pay next to nothing for a low-quality knock-off. But high-quality stuff sells well. Mac is losing because QQ (IM client) works better on Windows, and Xunlei (torrent client) is Windows-only.
- wooster 16y ago
  Mac is losing because QQ (IM client) works better on Windows, and Xunlei (torrent client) is Windows-only. Those are two pieces of software which would be trivially easy to port to OS X. I doubt they're the primary reason the Mac isn't doing well in China.
  - est 16y ago
    > Those are two pieces of software which would be trivially easy to port to OS X Not really. QQ login requires QQDoctor which is a ring3 level driver. Thunder has it's own network stack to speed things up.
    - spamizbad 16y ago
      What's the reasoning behind implementing a ring3 driver for an IM Client and a custom network stack for a torrent client?
      - est 16y ago
        > What's the reasoning behind implementing a ring3 driver for an IM Client and a custom network stack for a torrent client? To fight against rampant keylogger and malware in China. Once you starts Thunder without speed limit or concurrent connection limit, your whole LAN suffers.
    - markbao 16y ago
      Sorry, what? http://cl.ly/6d3c5bbf3dc88653693e http://cl.ly/6d3c5bbf3dc88653693e
      - est 16y ago
        it lacks several core features, like audio & video chat, group file sharing, etc. Millions of years passed now it's still Beta.
c1sc0 16y ago
Yes, but where is disposable income growing faster? I'd rather own a small slice of an expanding market than a bigger piece of a stagnating one. The US (& by extension Europe) is financially overstretched on both the government and consumer level. From what I know about Chinese consumer psychology, Apple could double the prices of iPhones & make more sales. The Chinese love luxury products.
- yardie 16y ago
  From what I know about Chinese consumer psychology, Apple could double the prices of iPhones & make more sales. The Chinese love luxury products. I've been in front of the Versace and Gucci stores in Paris and when the Chinese tourists come they are absolutely swamped. They could buy the cheaper knockoff in their own country but it's considered low-class to walk around with those. And once you've seen the real thing you know how to spot a KIRF
byw 16y ago
Per capita GDP is deceiving, because the wealth gap between the urban middle class and rural population is huge. For example, Guangzhou, a metropolitan city, has a per capita GDP of $23,232, about the same as Portugal, yet the country as a whole averages $6,567. (wikipedia 2009 numbers) edit: links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prc
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
sound 16y ago
you're right, this is same in east asian, south asian and africa. There people want value for money to make buying decision and value = features ... more features means more value, i clearly remember that iPod was a super-flop product because it only played recorded music while other mp3 players played music, radio, had a voice recorder etc. so it was very difficult for apple to gain any grounds against other mp3 brands like sony, Lg, samsung etc. Apple product thus are for classes and not for masses (at least in that part of world where price against features plays a major role).

wisty 16y ago

Na. Chinese pay good money for high quality stuff. They'll pay a high proportion of their income into a few well-targeted purchases. If they don't want a good item, then they pay next to nothing for a low-quality knock-off. But high-quality stuff sells well. Mac is losing because QQ (IM client) works better on Windows, and Xunlei (torrent client) is Windows-only.

wooster 16y ago
Mac is losing because QQ (IM client) works better on Windows, and Xunlei (torrent client) is Windows-only. Those are two pieces of software which would be trivially easy to port to OS X. I doubt they're the primary reason the Mac isn't doing well in China.
- est 16y ago
  > Those are two pieces of software which would be trivially easy to port to OS X Not really. QQ login requires QQDoctor which is a ring3 level driver. Thunder has it's own network stack to speed things up.
  - spamizbad 16y ago
    What's the reasoning behind implementing a ring3 driver for an IM Client and a custom network stack for a torrent client?
    - est 16y ago
      > What's the reasoning behind implementing a ring3 driver for an IM Client and a custom network stack for a torrent client? To fight against rampant keylogger and malware in China. Once you starts Thunder without speed limit or concurrent connection limit, your whole LAN suffers.
  - markbao 16y ago
    Sorry, what? http://cl.ly/6d3c5bbf3dc88653693e http://cl.ly/6d3c5bbf3dc88653693e
    - est 16y ago
      it lacks several core features, like audio & video chat, group file sharing, etc. Millions of years passed now it's still Beta.

c1sc0 16y ago

Yes, but where is disposable income growing faster? I'd rather own a small slice of an expanding market than a bigger piece of a stagnating one. The US (& by extension Europe) is financially overstretched on both the government and consumer level. From what I know about Chinese consumer psychology, Apple could double the prices of iPhones & make more sales. The Chinese love luxury products.

yardie 16y ago
From what I know about Chinese consumer psychology, Apple could double the prices of iPhones & make more sales. The Chinese love luxury products. I've been in front of the Versace and Gucci stores in Paris and when the Chinese tourists come they are absolutely swamped. They could buy the cheaper knockoff in their own country but it's considered low-class to walk around with those. And once you've seen the real thing you know how to spot a KIRF

byw 16y ago

Per capita GDP is deceiving, because the wealth gap between the urban middle class and rural population is huge. For example, Guangzhou, a metropolitan city, has a per capita GDP of $23,232, about the same as Portugal, yet the country as a whole averages $6,567. (wikipedia 2009 numbers) edit: links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prc

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

sound 16y ago

you're right, this is same in east asian, south asian and africa. There people want value for money to make buying decision and value = features ... more features means more value, i clearly remember that iPod was a super-flop product because it only played recorded music while other mp3 players played music, radio, had a voice recorder etc. so it was very difficult for apple to gain any grounds against other mp3 brands like sony, Lg, samsung etc. Apple product thus are for classes and not for masses (at least in that part of world where price against features plays a major role).