Apple launch fails to grasp core issue

New offerings look weak compared to products on the market from top-tier Chinese companies

Apple Inc's nothing-to-be-excited-about product rollout on Thursday made the world wonder if the electronics giant is losing its innovation power - and worse, its grasp of the Chinese market.

CEO Tim Cook introduced a fair number of new devices during its launch event in San Francisco: a new Apple TV, for instance, that stands no chance of entering China, and a bigger iPad with a stylus that his predecessor, the late Steve Jobs, famously hated.