6 ms·
China : "Jump!" Apple : "How high?"
by junkculture 9y ago
China : "Jump!"
Apple : "How high?"
- romanovcode 9y agoOnly thing that concerns Apple is to make money. They don't have a moral ground on issues like these because they are a business. Don't tell us you would say "no".
- aluhut 9y agoSure I would. Chinese market is already dominated by Android. Only those with a lot of money can buy Apple and people with a lot of money have influence. I would love to see the party trying to come up with an excuse for their VIPs and their angry daughters for an Apple block.
- fma 9y agoThat is a misperception. You think Apple made so much money in China because only the rich but iPhones? Chinese people are willing to save/spend several months of their salary for the newest iPhone due to its status symbol. If anything will add to the further downfall of Apple in China, it stripping functionality of the most popular mobile payment app in China. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/tencent-s-wechat-abolishes-tipping-feature-on-apple-iphones https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/tencent-s...
- aluhut 9y agoSo this is part of a Chinese Government strategy to get Apple out of the market? Even more reasons to not do it. If Chinese Government decided they want you out, you will be out. Why not take some advertisement with them for the rest of the world? They surely knew how that works with the FBI problem.
- IBM 9y agoThey absolutely stake out moral positions on issues like these all the time. The difference is they only do it in the West where rule of law prevails and they can actually exert influence. They've done it with various anti-LGBT efforts that have taken place around the US, they've done it with the fight with the FBI and they're doing it right now in Australia [1], among others. What they don't do is shoot themselves in the head in some misguided attempt at ideological purity. [1] https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-talks-australian-government-encryption/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-talks-australian-...
- veidr 9y agoSpeak for yourself, dude. I would say "no". Tons of us would say "no". There are various things on this spectrum that any business can choose to do, or not do: use child labor, use political prison labor, dump toxic waste in public streams and rivers (after funding lobbyists to make it legal), etc.
- gthbdk 9y agoAnother hard 'no' here. There's a even strong chance I'd actively hamper company operations surrounding the project, and bust out psychological warfare on management until fired.
- justadeveloper2 9y agoMe too. The point about Apple is that they are abetting human rights violations. The Chinese treat their people like animals.
- saimiam 9y agoThis is just crazy talk @ The Chinese treat their people like animals. Millions lifted out of poverty. Nationalistic fervor. Chinese tourists traveling abroad (shows affluence.) I'm no China apologist but we could do with less grandstanding overall.
- zhte415 9y ago>The Chinese treat their people like animals. The Chinese are the People, that's the point. Socialism. That's the definition of socialism. The way you phrase 'The Chinese treat their people' is what socialism exists to fight against... or that's the ideological angle... You cannot confuse nation, nationality, and identity for mainland China. They're rolled into one, which is perfect for the current hegemony.
- kryptiskt 9y agoEven simpler, they could just allow sideloading of apps so they don't have to be the gatekeeper defending China's interests.
- pjmlp 9y agoActually those silly trainings that most of us have to do at companies of similar size about company culture say exactly that, that it is preferable to lose a business than do immoral stuff. Of course no one takes them seriously, because the actual reality on the field is that nothing other than profits matter.
- justadeveloper2 9y agoOh, I see, they only take on "moral" issues when it comes to the US elections? Companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook can sway the world right into totalitarianism via their support of censorship and disregard for basic human rights. If these companies do side with the least common denominator, where does that leave the rest of us?
- jpatokal 9y agoGoogle does not censor search results in China and consequently remains largely blocked there to this day.
- pilif 9y agowhat would be the option? Leaving the Chinese market, having iPhones be pulled from the market and the AppStore blocked by the Great Firewall? Even without VPN clients, iPhones still provide superior client-side security to a lot of other phones out there.
- raarts 9y agoEvery business has to follow local law. Same holds for Chinese companies doing business in the US.
- veidr 9y agoEvery business has to follow local law. Same held for companies doing business with South Africa under apartheid rule in the 1980s. Pretending there isn't a moral dimension to it just because "it's business" is absurd.
- taneq 9y agoSo you'd have Apple do what? Fall on their sword and pull out of China? Or actually go to war against the Chinese government?
- teknologist 9y agoI don't know about you but I certainly respect Google a lot more for doing that
- zhte415 9y ago> Every business has to follow local law. To a degree. Every business has to follow the law of their head office and umbrella group. When local law is inconsistent with head office law, then a grey area is entered. If this grey area is not reconcilable, then head office wins and local office capitulates or shuts down if pushed to that extent.
- lostboys67 9y agoDidn't stop huawei pirating ios did it
- Shivetya 9y agoAll companies jump when the country they are in tells them too. At most we can complain during Apple share holder meetings of our displeasure for them to do business in a country whose activities we do not agree with. There are far greater transgressions happening in other countries than blocking VPN but where is the concern for sales within them? Lastly, we don't have the right to tell China what is right for China. We can say we don't agree but similarly do we listen to China when they tell us what they don't like?
- lostboys67 9y agoSo shooting protesting students is ok then at some point a higher law (to quote William H. Seward) takes over
- humanrebar 9y ago> ...do we listen to China when they tell us what they don't like? If they have good points, yeah. Grading ideas based on the source is a good way to stay ignorant.
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- vdchuyen 9y agoHaha, because Google had just say "NO", I don't think this is a smart move for Apple. It seems that the DPI backends of Great Firewall were just overloaded.
- the-dude 9y agoThis comment has no substance and is essentially flamebait.
- veidr 9y agoReally? To me it sounds more like an abbreviated way to say: "Despite their polished 'Designed in California' efforts to strike a tone that resonates with the affluent organic free-range eco-democratic westcoast set, when the rubber hits the road, Apple kowtows to authoritarian despots if the profits are 'iphone-scale'." Does that also sound like flamebait to you? If so, then I suggest you introspect about where and why your fires burn.
- junkculture 9y agoExactly
- junkculture 9y agoI'm sorry you're taking it that way. Did Apple cooperate with the FBI when they asked to help with the Pulse Club terrorist? No.