Apple's Tim Cook plans China push

Apple says it plans to make greater investment in China as chief executive Tim Cook visits the world's most populous country, where store openings have trailed a forecast from the company two years ago.

Cook had "great meetings" with Chinese officials, said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman.

His visit comes almost three months after crowds threw eggs at another Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun district when it didn't open on the first day of sales for the iPhone 4S.

Demand for the iPhone in China was "staggering", and the company "didn't bet high enough", Cook said in January.

Since opening its first store in Sanlitun in 2008, Apple now has two outlets in Beijing, three in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong, for a total of six.

"Apple has done a great job with the relatively small number of retail stores they have got here," said David Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia, a Beijing-based consulting firm.

"The challenge now is to extend the successful retail model they have in the US to China."

- Bloomberg