Apple approved for two more China stores

Apple (AAPL.NASDAQ) has received approval to open two new flagship stores in China, one in the southern city of Shenzhen and one in the southwestern city of Chengdu, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing local government officials. Apple currently has five mainland stores: two in Beijing and three in Shanghai. Apple’s iPhone sales in greater China grew fivefold year-on-year in the first three months of 2011 following the launch of the iPhone 4S in January. Separately, Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying that Apple plans to add the Baidu (BIDU.NASDAQ) search engine to its iPhones in China. The plans could be announced as early as next week. Baidu handled 78.5% of China’s internet search queries in the first quarter, compared with 16.6% for Google (GOOG.NASDAQ), according to data from research company Analysys International.