The guys from Cupertino have just announced that Isabel Ge Mahe, until now vice president of wireless technologies, will become the head of Apple in China, occupying a new position in which will report directly to the head of the company, Tim Cook and Jeff Williams.
Isabel Ge Mahe has been in charge of the last nine years lead wireless software engineering teams, something that does not make much sense if Apple is turning to both Intel and Qualcomm to provide their devices with these types of connections.
As stated by Tim Cook
Apple is firmly committed to investing and growing in China and thanks to Isabel's experience and her leadership, we will continue to do great things in the country. Isabel has spent the last few years at Apple developing and innovating for the benefit of customers in China, and we expect her to make greater contributions in the country from now on.
As vice president of wireless technologies, Isabel has focused on the development of NFC, Wifi, bluetooth and location technologies for almost all Apple products, in addition to having been in charge of different teams of engineers who have been in charge of Apple Pay, HomeKit and CarPlay. It has also collaborated very closely with different R&D teams to be able to launch specific iPhone and iPad models for the Asian continent.
China has become an increasingly important market for the company, although in recent quarters sales in the country, especially if we talk about the iPhone, have dropped considerably due to the rise of Chinese brands, a challenge that Isabel will have to face in order to get the most out of the 40 Apple Stores that Apple has open in the country, stores that were opened in just two years.
It will be Apple in China! Or is it that the Chinese government has a person in charge within Apple?