Apple's Fifth Avenue Apple Store is a global icon for the brand. It sits in midtown NYC, flanked by Central Park, and its cap is made entirely out of glass panels. As such, the location has been a go-to store for tourists and locals alike and has established itself as one of the company's most successful stores. Until now, perhaps.
According to a recent report from The Yankee Group, every one of the company's Apple Store locations in China is as successful, or more so, than the Fifth Avenue store.
"The New York flagship 5th Avenue Apple store used to be one of the highest grossing stores in the entire Apple chain, pulling in somewhere around $350 million in revenue in 2010," explained Carl Howe, VP for research and data sciences at Yankee Group. "Today — based on anecdotal evidence, but I believe this to be true — nearly every Apple store in China sells as much or more than the 5th Avenue store. China may have a lower percentage of wealthy people than the U.S., but they have more absolute numbers of them."
Clearly China is an important market for Apple and, indeed, for every mobile brand that wants a slice of the massive tech market. The latest rumors suggest that Apple is well on its way to launch a model of the iPhone on China Mobile, the world's largest carrier that has, so far, not offered an iPhone to its customers.
