Apple to Chinese citizens: Buy our smartphones, just 12 easy payments!

Apple plans to entice more Chinese customers to buy its smartphones and other gadgets by offering purchases on credit, according to a report by the Financial Times. The company hopes new installment payment plans will help improve sales in China against cut-rate competitors, as China is viewed as one of Apple's top markets for growth.

The new program is analogous to those already offered in the US, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, and Singapore. It allows any Chinese customer with a credit card from China Merchants Bank and spending more than ?300 ($48) to pay the balance in 12 monthly installments with zero interest. If the buyer wants longer repayments options, they can get 6.5 percent interest for 18 months, or 8.5 percent for 24 months. The offer is good for purchases that total up to a maximum of ?30,000 ($4,800).

Apple has seen tremendous growth already in China, and CEO Tim Cook has commented more than once that the country is becoming one of its top markets. The country accounted for 15 percent of Apple's revenue in 2012. "[This] is really phenomenal when you think about it," Cook said during last quarter's financial analyst call. "That's up over $10 billion year on year."

Still, the company faces stiff competition from lower-priced alternatives from local vendors such as ZTE, Huawei, and others. Though Apple has so far benefitted from China's rising middle class, the FT noted that smartphone demand in China has been "increasingly driven by first-time buyers with lower incomes." Critically, smartphones aren't typically subsidized in China as they are in the US, as 70 percent of mobile users there are on prepaid plans.

Source: http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/TXg565A_dTU/

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