What makes investors forget about losing an iconic leader? How about traction in a market with four times more people than the United States that's now the largest computing market in the world? New research says that's exactly what's happening to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).
On Friday, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said in a research note that MacBook Air sales in Hong Kong have been brisk and, that based on his checks, the svelte laptop should perform equally well on the mainland, Fortune reports. Buyers are also taking to the iPad and iPhone, White said.
This may be why the news of Steve Jobs resigning was already priced in. Investors knew Apple was well-positioned globally; they just couldn't predict when, or how, Jobs would step down, or whether his leaving would hurt the company's chances of taking advantage.
Both those questions have now been answered. The Steve will continue as chairman, ensuring CEO Tim Cook won't pursue directional shifts without first receiving Jobs' blessing. And whatever lingering concerns there may be over his leaving, Jobs' departure has had zero impact on consumer sales in China.
Expect similar reports here in the U.S. Jobs will be missed, certainly, but I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who bought a Mac (or an iPad or iPhone) because of an affinity for The Great Turtlenecked One.
Instead, Apple is winning because of product design and competitive positioning so fierce it's driven Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to withdraw from the consumer device business, just as Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) and Asian PC manufacturers drove IBM (NYSE: IBM) from the commodity computing business six years ago.
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