Apple Continued...

'Miserable Brits' - I understand this to be a widely accepted perception (we can disagree about how fair the description is).  Well seems they may now be justified.  UK is officially in a recession.  It's certainly getting a lot of press and the debate is ongoing.  Some argue that it's the ever-dreaded double-dip recession while others maintain it's par for the course in a choppy recovery.  Jury is still out. 

Let's move onto some more encouraging news.  Apologize that my Apple post yesterday was totally anemic.  Unfair given the importance of these outrageously good results.  As the biggest company in the world, Apple moves sectors and entire markets.  Note the Taiwanese stock market rally yesterday was due to sharp moves higher in the companies that make up the Apple supply chain.  

Not to ruin a good celebration but I do need to add a very sad personal anecdote.   My brother was so excited for the iPad 3, he actually bought it day 1 of his arrival back to the US.  My dad took him from airport to Apple store and my very conservative (Korean) dad had to bite his tongue hard when little bro declined the Apple care insurance.  Little Bro's rationale was that it doesn't cover theft and he planned to treat his much awaited iPad like his child anyway.  Accordingly he loved it/ loaded it/pimped it out in a nice leather cover/etc.  And then....Boom DAY 3!  Someone bumps into a table and the iPad crashes to the floor (cover didn't help).  SHATTERED-SMASHED-DONE! I feel so bad for him that I am almost tempted to buy him a new one.  He’s a lot younger than me and given my own phone misfortunes, I’m pretty sympathetic.  

My point here is two-fold.  Do I indeed buy him a new one?  Weigh in please!  More important however is watch the Apple replacement cycle. Lucky for Apple, clumsy overweight Americans keep iDropping, iLosing, or iUpgrading them.  Equally fortunate for Apple, the Chinese are still under-Appled and eagerly iCoveting.  So while we know Americans to be iBinging, China is acting like the Golden Apple.  China demand is surging and has grown from 12% of Apple sales to 20%.  Amazing!   The word they actually used to describe it was 'incredible' and 'mind boggling'.   Doesn't get much better than that!