Apple Appoints Isabel Ge Mahe As MD Of China Operations

Cupertino-based tech giant, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has appointed Isabel Ge Mahe to a newly created post – that of vice president and managing director of Greater China. The company said that Ge Mahe will “provide leadership and coordination across Apple’s China-based team.”

Ge Mahe has been with Apple’s wireless technology division for the past nine years and has been overseeing the “development of cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, location and motion technologies for nearly every Apple product.” As far as China is concerned, Ge Mahe has worked with the company’s research and development (R&D) team, and carrier partners to develop regional specific features like the new QR Code support and SMS fraud prevention for both iPhone and iPad, per the press release.

China is one of Apple’s biggest markets. Over the past few quarters, the company has been losing ground on account of sluggish demand in the region for its flagship product, iPhone. Additionally, mounting competition from local players such as Huawei and Oppo is also hindering growth prospects. In the last reported quarter, Apple revenues declined around 14% year over year in the Greater China region to $10.7 billion.

Creation of the post of managing director for China operations underscores importance of that market for Apple. On Ge Mahe’s appointment, CEO Tim Cook was quoted saying “Apple is strongly committed to invest and grow in China, and we are thrilled that Isabel will be bringing her experience and leadership to our China team. She has dedicated a great deal of her time in recent years to delivering innovation for the benefit of Apple customers in China, and we look forward to making even greater contributions under her leadership.”

In a bid to protect its business interests, Apple has stepped up investment in the country to woo the government. Recently, the company was reported to have collaborated with local internet services companies to establish its first data center in China. This was to ensure compliance with the country's newly implemented cyber-security regulations.The planned facility will be located in the Guizhou province of Southwest China and will be operated in cooperation with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co., Ltd. (GCBD), a data-management enterprise.

Earlier last year, the company had invested $1 billion in the ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing (DIDI). Moreover, in March, it announced plans to build two R&D centers in Shanghai and Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Furthermore, the company established two R&D centers in Beijing and Shenzhen last year.

Ge Mahe will report to Cook and COO Jeff Williams. She will take up her new role later this summer. Ge Mahe said “Everyone at Apple is proud of the contributions we make to the communities where we do business, and I am looking forward to deepening our team’s connections with customers, government and businesses in China to advance innovation and sustainability.”

Ge Mahe is a Chinese native and holds an MBA degree from the University of California.

Zacks Rank and Stock Price Movement

At present, Apple carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the past one year, shares of Apple have registered growth of 50.3% compared with the Zacks categorized Computer Mini industry’s gain of 49.1%.

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the broader tech space include Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) , Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1.

Cypress, Quantum, and Marvell have delivered average positive earnings surprise of 83.30%, 50.37% and 86.70%, respectively in the trailing four quarters.

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