Lenovo sees Apple losing out in China

Apple (AAPL.NYSE) is losing out to its competitors in the Chinese market because of poor sales and distribution, the Financial Times reported, citing Lenovo (0992.HK) founder and chairman Liu Chuanzhi. "We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China," Liu said. "If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble." Lenovo, which swung to a fiscal fourth quarter net profit on cost controls and strong domestic sales, currently holds about 30% of the domestic PC market – expected to become the world’s largest within a year. Apple has said in the past that it sees China as a major growth opportunity and will open a flagship store in Shanghai with plans to have 25 retail outlets on the mainland by end-2011.