The following is a translation of a Chinese language report via Caixin:
Today, some media outlets reported that the Chinese government procurement list excludes Apple’s iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air, and other Apple products.
Some of the erroneous reports quoted an unnamed official as saying that due to security issues, the Chinese government had 10 models of Apple products removed from the procurement list, saying also that the Chinese government does not intend to buy Apple iPhone 6.
Those reports are incorrect. On March 28th, the Ministry of Finance, Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the 16th semi-annual energy-saving products in government procurement notification list, Apple failed to enter the Chinese government’s shopping list, but the Chinese government has not banned the purchase Apple products, Apple simply failed to proved the necessary information for inclusion into the energy-saving products in government procurement list, industry insiders said.
As to why Apple failed to qualify for the procurement list, the authorities are investigating. According to the aforementioned industry sources, any vendor wishing to be included on this list, should submit relevant materials according to the process, such as energy-saving product certification, undertaking, etc. There looks to have been a failure or miscommunication with the required documentation from Apple.
Currently, with Apple not on this list, as long as Chinese government procurement has no special energy-saving requirements, they can seek to purchase Apple products, but Apple must, of course, follow the principles of fair bidding, the source said.
Apple’s failure to be included on this list is not for security reasons, as some erroneous reports have suggested, since the Chinese government would reject all foreign brands if this were the case. However, Apple, Acer, and Dell are foreign brands, but they all appear in this energy-saving products in government procurement list.
Full article in Chinese here and machine translation to English here.
MacDailyNews Take: FUD.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “pridon328” for the heads up.]