Update | China's importance to Apple on display at Watch launch

Reading Time:2 minutes

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook unveils details of the Apple Watch smartwatch during an event in San Francisco on March 9, 2015. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 10:30am, 10 Mar 2015Updated: 11:30am, 16 Apr 2015

The importance of the Chinese market to the world's largest public company at the launch of the Apple Watch in California on Monday was clear.

Apple Watch will go on sale in nine markets on April 24, including China and Hong Kong. Previously, Chinese consumers have had to wait longer for Apple devices, including the iPhone 6 last, which was released in China a week after its launch.

China's presence was felt throughout the almost two hour long keynote presentation, which opened with a video of Apple's new concept store by Hangzhou's West Lake, which opened in February. CEO Tim Cook said that the company has 21 stores on the mainland so far with plans to open 19 more.

Greater China – which includes the mainland, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong – is Apple's second largest market after the US, and earned the company US$16 billion in the first quarter of 2015. China is also widely regarded as the key market for the Apple Watch, particularly the US$17,000 solid gold Edition.

"The high-end model they should call the 'China' watch as it's clearly targeted at emerging markets, aspirational consumers who are looking to spread their feathers (flaunt their individualism and wealth) with what has become the ultimate self-expressive benefit brand: Apple," luxury expert Scott Galloway of digital innovation think tank L2 told Business Insider.

A recent survey by the Hurun Research Institute found that Apple is now China's top luxury brand, ahead of such stalwarts as Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Hermes.