Chinese Buying Apples

The Chinese are buying Apples. Not the round green or red ones, but the thin silver ones. Yes - the first affordable Apple device for the Chinese masses has arrived: the iPad

These were the queues outside the huge, sleek, spartan Apple store in Beijing yesterday. Pitched cleverly (or coincidentally?) at about a months salary for a young Chinese White collar worker, the iPad has everything the urban image-concious Chinese wants;
- it is eye-catching, saying "look at me" (at least for a few weeks until everyone has one!)
- it is stylish (and so, by implication, are it's buyers)
- it is an overt display of international/Western consumption
- it is an exclusive brand....

....ahhhhh, here lies the quandry for Apple. How mass can a brand become before it ceases to be aspirational?

So far Apple have been able to avoid this dicotomy around the world due to the innovation factor. But in China perception is everything - and Apple runs a serious risk of loosing the elite image that it has crafted (fallen into?) by the previous "grey import only" availability and more recent high cost of it's now officially available products.

Louis Vuitton and other icon brands have been able to maintain their exclusivity by remaining priced for the few. Apple has taken a brave step into China's mass Market - only time will tell if it will come back to bite them.