Apple Accelerates Launch of New Products in China

From PC World: Apple products are hitting the Chinese market faster than they used to, with the company's latest version of its MacBook Air scheduled to be released in the country this month.

Chinese consumers once had to endure a long wait before Apple's newest products officially arrived in the country. In the case of the iPhone, more than two years passed between Apple's launch of the iconic smartphone and the start of official shipments to China in late 2009.

But this year, Apple launched the iPhone 4 and the iPad in China less than six months after their U.S. release. Apple now says it plans on releasing its new MacBook Air laptop in China mid-November, about a month after its launch in the U.S.

By releasing the company's products faster to the Chinese market, analysts say Apple is drawing consumers away from the country's grey market, where local vendors will first buy the product overseas only to bring it over to China to sell.

But the company has a way to go before taking a sizeable share in certain areas of China's tech market. For smartphones, the company claims a 5.9 percent market share, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

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