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They still do. Indeed Carl Icahn recently dumped his Apple stock for this exact reason. Your market status in China is temporary, until the government can repla

They still do. Indeed Carl Icahn recently dumped his Apple stock for this exact reason. Your market status in China is temporary, until the government can replace you. More interestingly there are few Western companies that have actually made a net positive cash flow out of China, even those that today have large market shares ( such as automotive). The relationship has consistently been unilateral free trade in the long term, with investors giving money for market share and getting little in return.

eva1984 11y ago
Your argument doesn't hold. Apple is pretty replaceable in China, yet they are making yuge money from this one market.
- jonknee 11y ago
  The argument is that regardless of Apple's current profits it could all be gone tomorrow without any recourse.
  - eva1984 11y ago
    “Your market status in China is temporary, until the government can replace you” China has 2-3 (due to different standard) of the top smartphone manufacturers in the world, I don't think govt cannot replace Apple. Yet apple is still there.
    - jonknee 11y ago
      China just cut off some of Apple's services without any warning: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/technology/apple-no-longer-immune-to-chinas-scrutiny-of-us-tech-firms.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/technology/apple-no-longer... > Last week, Apple’s iBooks Store and iTunes Movies were shut down in China, just six months after they were started there. Initially, Apple apparently had the government’s approval to introduce the services. But then a regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, asserted its authority and demanded the closings, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The biggest threat may be a security/encryption related court case similar to the one the US just backed down on. Apple would be put in a very tough place.
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  Apple had a 2016 Q1 YoY decrease of 25% for revenue in China. They are still making good money but the future is very uncertain for those cash flows.
  - eva1984 11y ago
    Because 6S is a boring phone, and people didn't want it as bad as 6.
tew28 11y ago
The reason Apple's sales in China are slowing is not because of local favoritism. It has more to do with new iPhones being not much different than older models, much more expensive than similar hardware with Android, and competition (like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Samsung) catching up.
xiaoma 11y ago
Yes and the future for Apple in China is looking pretty grim since the government has recently just shut down the iTunes movies and books stores. It's only a matter of time before music and apps get similar treatment. A government willing to block gmail of all things is not going to have qualms about killing an app store they can't control.

eva1984 11y ago

Your argument doesn't hold. Apple is pretty replaceable in China, yet they are making yuge money from this one market.

jonknee 11y ago
The argument is that regardless of Apple's current profits it could all be gone tomorrow without any recourse.
- eva1984 11y ago
  “Your market status in China is temporary, until the government can replace you” China has 2-3 (due to different standard) of the top smartphone manufacturers in the world, I don't think govt cannot replace Apple. Yet apple is still there.
  - jonknee 11y ago
    China just cut off some of Apple's services without any warning: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/technology/apple-no-longer-immune-to-chinas-scrutiny-of-us-tech-firms.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/technology/apple-no-longer... > Last week, Apple’s iBooks Store and iTunes Movies were shut down in China, just six months after they were started there. Initially, Apple apparently had the government’s approval to introduce the services. But then a regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, asserted its authority and demanded the closings, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The biggest threat may be a security/encryption related court case similar to the one the US just backed down on. Apple would be put in a very tough place.
Nicholas_C 11y ago
Apple had a 2016 Q1 YoY decrease of 25% for revenue in China. They are still making good money but the future is very uncertain for those cash flows.
- eva1984 11y ago
  Because 6S is a boring phone, and people didn't want it as bad as 6.

tew28 11y ago

The reason Apple's sales in China are slowing is not because of local favoritism. It has more to do with new iPhones being not much different than older models, much more expensive than similar hardware with Android, and competition (like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Samsung) catching up.

xiaoma 11y ago

Yes and the future for Apple in China is looking pretty grim since the government has recently just shut down the iTunes movies and books stores. It's only a matter of time before music and apps get similar treatment. A government willing to block gmail of all things is not going to have qualms about killing an app store they can't control.