“For the third consecutive day, the Chinese Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, has run articles criticizing Apple for its warranty policy in China and calling Apple’s defense of its customer-service practices arrogant,” Paul Mozur reports for The Wall Street Journal. “On China’s social media there has been no shortage of grumbles about its customer service and warranty policies.”
“But one unintended consequence of the vitriol emerged Wednesday after the financial magazine Caijing polled its Weibo microblog followers for their response to Wednesday’s article,” Mozur reports. “Playing on the title of the People’s Daily article — Smash Apple’s ‘Incomparable’ Arrogance — Caijing wrote on its account early Wednesday morning: ‘As a consumer, which arrogant company or companies do you want to smash? Please give specific names so that we can announce a top 10.'”
Mozur reports, “By Wednesday evening the poll had more than 600 comments, but Apple wasn’t a top mention. Instead, hundreds of users repeatedly named a handful of state-owned monopolies. Among them were China’s three largest oil companies, its three major telecom-service providers, and its four major banks, along with other government-run services like railways, electricity and water. Running just behind those companies was the People’s Daily and other state-run media.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: China might want to be wary of repeatedly biting the hand that feeds it.
Arguably, no single free company in the world has done more for China and Chinese workers more quickly than Apple Inc.
Caijing‘s poll results simply prove the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
Related articles:
China slams Apple’s ‘empty and self-praising’ response to warranty complaints – March 26, 2013
What’s really behind China’s attacks on Apple and Android? – March 20, 2013
Chinese media attack on Apple exposed; backfires badly – March 19, 2013
Prominent Weibo users, Samsung spokesman paid to bash Apple – March 17, 2013
People’s Daily= WSJ and Forbes East.
I think the post earlier about Apple buying Cyprus and and calling it iCyprus was not only a good idea but take the island private and move all your manufacturing there. Then declare yourself a separate country.
Share holders allowed to visit at special iHotels were everything is Apple supported.
Just a thought. Of course you would fly iPlane there and back. lol
Cyprus is already a great name. I don’t think Apple would touch it. They tend to reserve the “i” for magical consumer oriented products. So when (not if) Apple buys Cyprus, I think the name will remain the same. The iPlane however, could happen…
China seems hell bent on getting Apple to move elsewhere for its business. Is that their goal? Why are they doing this? How long do you think it would take for a manufacturing flight out of China if Apple lead the way?
They’re doing this because Apple’s spoiling the slave labor market by standing up for fair wages and work conditions.
China economic boom is sustainable only if slave labor control continues without any disruption, without slave wages and control there is no reason the world will continue to give contracts to china, as manufacturing costs will rise.
And ironically, here at home Apple gets accused of abusive labor practices in China by ignorant bloggers and corrupt media paid aslo by someone with a vindictive agenda.
Apple better start building them iPhone/iPad assembling robots
They’re Communists. What do you expect, fair treatment? Hardly. America may not be perfect but there’s a reason people try to get in to our country and out of other countries. Think about it.
They might have been Communist at some point in their history, but I’m not sure their system still qualifies. I would call it more a kind of Capitalist Oligarchy.
Try speaking out against the government. See if a Communist isn’t the guy slapping you upside your head telling you to shut the fuck up!
That’s not communism… that’s a dictatorship. It is not Democracy versus Communism. It is Capitalism versus Communism. We are a Capitalist Democracy. The former Soviet Union was a Communism Dictatorship. You could theoretically have a Communist Democracy or a Capitalist Dictatorship (which is basically what China is now). Capitalism is an economic system. Democracy is a political system.
“Why are they doing this?”
Possible answer:
Huwaei and ZTE. Why Huwaei and ZTE?:
They are/can be state-controlled by China (unlike Apple). The Chinese government will be able to track users every movement and action, verbal or otherwise (even perhaps beyond China’s borders if consumers become apathetic.).
It’s the communist version of “Google”.
“Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
James Thurber: “You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.”
Dubya:
“Fool me once…”
Getting so tired of this dump on Apple constantly, everywhere for anything—even if they have to make some shit up to get the job done.
Eventually….
The boy who cried wolf will always be a liar that nobody believes.
I like one posters idea from yesterday. Buy Cyprus and concert it to a Apple manufacturing facility.
I can’t help but wonder if SameDung has anything to do with this. After all they are getting pretty “localized” in China. It is a bit scary actually. Maybe Apple should put on hold any plan to increase dividends and use part of that cash horde to build factories here in the U.S., just in case.
Please. China and North Korea are hardly buddies.
China’s state mouthpiece should shut there trap, because nobody is listening to there FUD! The poll proved that easily.
Apple is number 1 in customer service, they need to run gripe pieces about there own companies where the people actually have gripes about.
Interestingly, it’s when the State-owned companies and domestic companies come under fire, that the gov’t puts out these propaganda campaigns to highlight foreign companies. Seems to have backfired.
Or, in the case of the U.S. politicians, when Federal Government spending is completely out-of-control and foreign policy is a rolling disaster (with no relief in sight), throw a gay marriage debate and gun control circus into the headlines…
There is also the need to raise one’s profile with the new president which is usually done by making someone else look stupid. The fact that foreign companies are ‘safe targets’ is not remarkable in any way and is seen as legitimate even though the message is false. Don’t know why the whiners are getting bunched knickers over this, it’s just posturing. That foreign media outlets get some outrage mileage out of this, will just make the Chinese elite giggle a bit…nothing more.
“Apple’s ‘Incomparable’ Arrogance” is what makes Apple, Apple…bitches.
Caijing = the Chinese version of The Washington Compost.