Apple Computer Inc this week launched the Power Macintoshes in China – where it currently holds only 2% of the market, but is pitching for 20% as quickly as possible, building on an installed base of 20,000 Macintoshes and a network of 100 Chinese dealers. The dealer network will double in 1995, it said. To succeed in China, it reckons, it has to manufacture and develop software there. It has narrowed its search for a production partner to three companies, in Shanghai, Peking and Guangzhou and hopes to sign a manufacturing deal this summer. Prices in China for PowerPC and ordinary Macintoshes run about 15% above US levels before assessment of import duties and taxes, which do not apply uniformly. Chinese-manufactured Macs will initially have 20% local content, but this will rise to as high as 85%, or just about everything but the chip, the company told Reuter.
