Dallas, Texas 12/17/2013 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been attempting to break into the billion people strong smart phone market in China over the past year as it has faced stiff competition from local vendors and cheaper priced products from international players like Samsung which are powered by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) backed Android O.S. It is in this context that one needs to analyze the $504 billion market capped firm’s sustained efforts to sign on the world’s largest cell phone service provider China Mobile as its partner in China.
If news reports are to be believed, the two players Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and China Mobile are all set to sign off on this deal, pending resolution of few last mile connectivity issues which are likely to get addressed in near future. This media hype is being based on reports of China Mobile accepting orders on its website for a new phone which is not yet named officially. The website is promoting this new phone by a epiphyte “Ming Xing” in Chinese, which translates to “bright star” in English without disclosing its brand.
Readers would remember that not very long back, China was one of the biggest markets for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone various past smart phone models. The iPhones were in great demand in China and had led to allegations of hording and black marketering by local vendors to encash on the insatiable demand for iPhones in the middle kingdom. All that seems to have slowly changed as new players have entered the market offering feature packed phones at much lower prices than what Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is offering in the China market. Through this tie up with China Mobile Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is attempting to gain access to a hundreds of millions strong user base and a large network which is willing to subsides the price of the Smartphone handset and thereby making it more price competitive with competition.
Stock Performance
Over the past year, the stock of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has scripted a tops curvy performance at the browsers this year. It started off the year at reasonably healthy stock price on the back of burgeoning sales figures of iPhones and iPads. But right through the first quarter of this year, till the run up into the simultaneous launch of new models of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C the stock kept losing ground. But the stock picked up momentum and started to show upward movement when the company started building up interest with the market place about the new releases. Over the trailing 12 months the stock has managed to post a below average nine percent increase in its overall value.
In the past three months, the stock of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has managed to recover from the falls it had experienced since the beginning of the year and posted a significant 29.6 percent increase in its market value. As of close of business yesterday, the stock was trading at $557.5 per share which is just 3 percent lower than its prior 52 week high price points. The stock has been range bound between $377.85 and $575.14 per share this year.
