China alone has more people that can afford an expensive phone/tablet than can in the USA (the USA has a higher % that can). India likely has more than the USA, if not they will in 5 years. Indonesia has many people that can…

The percentage of income spent on such gadgets (and cell phone plans) etc. is much higher for most customers in the non rich countries (essentially OECD) but those non-rich countries have over a billion people that are willing to spend a lot of money on gadgets.

And beyond those spending a lot of there money on gadgets in non-rich countries, there are hundreds of millions that are actually wealthy even in comparison to the USA in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand etc.. The countries economies are changing amazingly quickly. Overall many are still extremely poor but many are also as rich enough to be above median income in the USA.

I am pretty sure there are way more people above median USA income outside the rich countries North America, Europe, Japan (and go ahead and include Korea, Australia and New Zealand) than live in those rich countries.

Emerging markets != 3rd world countries. Cook is referring to China, and there is plenty of money here. I believe their Sanlitun store in Beijing has the highest per-day gross of any other store in the world. And they have just begun to make inroads in 2nd and 3rd tier cities, where there is also money.

India also has an emerging middle class, though nothing like China yet.