“With its rare apology, Apple Inc went from pariah to praiseworthy in the eyes of China’s state-controlled media, a lesson for other foreign firms not to underestimate the speed and power of the government press,” Melanie Lee reports for Reuters.
“After coming under near-daily media assault for the past two weeks and facing the threat of penalties from two Chinese government bureaus, Apple apologized to Chinese consumers on Monday for poor communication over its warranty policy and said it will change the terms for some of its iPhones sold in China,” Lee reports. “The Chinese newspapers that threw brickbats at Apple a few days ago have since changed their tune. ‘The company’s apology letter has eased the situation, softening the tense relationship between Apple and the Chinese market… Its reaction is worth respect compared with other American companies,’ wrote popular tabloid the Global Times, published by Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily.”
Lee reports, “The Foreign Ministry praised Apple for ‘conscientiously’ responding to consumers’ demands. ‘We approve of what Apple said,’ spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing on Tuesday… ‘That Timothy Cook had to step up and respond from the CEO’s chair shows the importance of China and how critical it is as a market not just for Apple but for every multinational company here,’ said Kent Kedl, Shanghai-based head of Greater China and North Asia for risk consultancy firm Control Risks… ‘They’re out of the woods and into the weeds. Things will rarely be smooth for Apple in China – even if consumers love it there will always be factions in and out of government that are trying to take it down,’ said Michael Clendenin, managing director of technology consultancy RedTech Advisors. ‘Apple made it easy this time, but they have learned to be more proactive. The next time they stumble, it will be easier to recover,’ he said.”
Read more in the full article here.
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Now it’s time for our Govt & media to apply just as much pressure to the Chinese for better warranties on ALL of the SHIT that we purchase from them!
WOW, what a wonderful idea. Sadly china usually produces items under other companies names. But I really love the idea.
Yea. I remember as a kid we use to talk shit about Cinese products. We would say “Made in China crap” even though we would have no idea what it really ment. Funny enough it’s still true today. Allot of thing from China is crap… It’s not an undeserved reputation. Sadly. And since so much crap comes from China even the good products from China get the cheap label. But as as mentioned above. Allot of stuff is “No Name”. Produced for X-company is usually says but not by whom.
Tim Cook certainly does know how to navigate the ins and outs of a shithole. In more ways than one.
More power to him in both regards.
Spoken like a retarded adolescent.
I think that you belong on another blog site. Go away please.
re Wiseass
“Oh look at me. I made a remark about pee-pee and poo-poo in one sentence! I’m so cool and funny!”
MDN: Please have a requirement that somebody has to be at least eight years old to post.
Is Wiseass a synonym for wanker?
Yeah, we know what you mean – shithead.
You think it’s funny? Go get a life. If its not too late.
Go away. Your outlook on life and your posts are unwanted in this world.
So many doubters to theAapple think tank. If Apple followed the advice of the trolls it would quickly burn through its $140 billion reserve. Keep up the great work Tim.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
As if the media in the U.S. is not ‘state controlled’.
Gee, from your comment, I am guessing that you were not alive 40 years ago. John Kennedy and around that time. The press did pretty much what ever the president asked them to do.
Now, if it bleeds it leads, and if its politics and a juicy punchline, it leads the lead. /s
It’s still time to diversify manufacturing to other countries.
Now that the stock market drove down the price because of the negative publicity from China yesterday, will the stock market respond in kind with the reversal of news?
No, only bad news seem to have any bearing on AAPL.
Very good.
When I first read about the apology yesterday my first though was not again… Tim has two apologies already and Steve has like none over his entire career? But two seconds after that I came to my senses and thought it was good. If Apple’s brand in China is hurt it will be disaster. I don’t agree with the maps apology, I don’t think Apple gained anything by apologizing for it and effectively acknowledging the App was bad. Maybe if they has launched under the umbrella of Beta it would not have gained so much flak.
I got rear-ended by a Chinese driver at the McDonald’s drive-thru the other day. Those people can’t drive 15 feet from the pay window to the pickup window without causing an accident.
Its like rednecks, they can’t drive 15 feet without shooting something.
In Silicon Valley we call it DWO – Driving While Oriental.