The Apple of Asia’s Eye

Steve Jobs entranced a continent’s consumers and shook up its manufacturers. Steve Jobs will be particularly missed in tech-savvy Asia. As an innovator, he created products that had a profound impact on the region’s economy, starting with personal computers that formed a model for so many Asian exports over the years. And then came the iPhone and iPad—groundbreaking, functional and aesthetically pleasing—which have entranced Asian consumers. Jobs delivered perhaps the first technological sea change to hit when a large number of Asians are prosperous enough to ride the wave. Asians don’t just build the iPod. They listen to their own music on it, too, and in large numbers. Apple’s most profitable stores are in China.

But Apple in Asia is not only a demand-side phenomenon. Jobs also disrupted the supply side in a region accustomed to thinking of itself as a tech leader. For instance, Korea’s Samsung, LG and others grew complacent reaping huge profits behind protectionist barriers that excluded foreign handset makers. Yet so great was the popular buzz surrounding the iPhone that policy makers in Seoul ultimately had little choice but to lower the wall.

This spurred Korean manufacturers to develop their own smartphones, offering competition for Apple—and more choices for Korean and global consumers.Jobs’s inventions created entirely new industries across the region, from accessories to apps. And that’s without even mentioning the ways Apple’s supply chain extended into Asia, creating high-tech jobs manufacturing components in factories across the continent. It’s a sign of the times that an entrepreneur and inventor based in California could have such a big impact on so many people so far away so quickly. The Journal reported yesterday that Apple devotees across Asia were grief-stricken at news of Jobs’s death. Little wonder. His influence likely will make itself felt in the region, in ways big and small and hard to quantify for years to come.

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