“Apple Inc. takes Chinese consumer tastes into account when it designs many of its products, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, underscoring the country’s importance to the iPhone maker,” Edwin Chan and Lulu Yilun Chen report for Bloomberg.
“The company considers details including color palettes to suit local tastes, Cook said in an interview in the June 17 Chinese-language version of Bloomberg Businessweek, published under license by Modern Media Holdings,” Chan and Chen report. “The decision to offer a gold iPhone last year reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users, he added.”
“Apple’s CEO made his remarks during a tour to China last month that took him to the company’s largest store worldwide, in the eastern city of Hangzhou. In the same interview, Cook said the watch is off to a promising start and has attracted more developer interest than the earliest iPhones and iPads had,” Chan and Chen report. “Developers are working on more than 3,500 apps for the gadgets, he said. That’s well ahead of the 500 apps available for the 2008 edition of the iPhone and the 1,000 for the first iPad in 2010, he added.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course Chinese tastes are considered. China became Apple’s biggest iPhone market this year and, after The Americas, Greater China is now Apple’s second biggest market (bigger than Europe and Japan combined).
Taste like chicken.
Woof.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33220235
I haven’t eaten dog yet but have no objections to it if it is well prepared. I am not sure what sauce to put on it but I am open.
Barkbeque sauce
Or for a more Asian flavor, try terrieraki
Bow Wow Sauce (a real sauce from Great Britain cuisine)
German Shepherd’s Pie is nice with a simple grrrravy.
Your comment was absolutely disgusting.
Go read the linked article above. If you think savage events like the Yulin dog meat festival is a laughing matter, it’s not. Domestic animals are treated horribly in China. Their callous disregard for being humane towards animals and outright cruelty speaks volumes about their society.
Please know that I am not anti-Chinese by any means. But I have every right to feel indignation toward a country with ambitions to lead the world. If that is China’s destiny, there is a lesson their government and society must learn first: A superpower is not defined by the size of its army, the number of nuclear missiles or submarines, or the size of its economy. Rather, a true superpower is defined by its ability to show compassion.
Like him or hate him, President Obama recently said something that few can disagree with, and one that reinforces my point above: When there is a crisis, be it a natural disaster, war, terrorism, disease, famine or other calamity, only one country in the world is on speed dial: the United States.
We have seen a number of natural disasters in recent years. Each time, it was the United States and its people who stepped in and took the lead on organizing and delivering aid. From planeloads and shiploads of medicines, doctors, relief workers, heavy equipment, mobile hospitals and more, the United States government responds without hesitation. Americans immediately contribute money and volunteer their time to help. That is something you don’t see other countries of significant means do by comparison. Quite simply, despite our flaws, compassion is hard-wired into our culture.
For China to truly ascend to where it dreams of being, compassion for all living things must be woven into their cultural fabric. But when I see the eradication of great species such as elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, lion, leopards in Africa because of the lust by the Chinese people for ivory and sexual organs without any concern for the genocide they are creating by poaching, it’s obvious that the Chinese simply don’t care. Theirs is government and culture that takes, not gives. Wantonly killing dogs and cats after treating them with utter cruelty is inexcusable.
China must do better. it’s time to grow up, if China is to eventually stand at the shoulders of the United States as a true power. Because with great power comes great responsibility. And it is up to the rest of the world to hold China and its people accountable to raising their standard of behavior and compassion.
This is not to discount what China has achieved. And not all Chinese act in the manner that I suggest above. We are individuals, and can think independently. My hope is that the people of China will realize this and evolve. If this happens, the world could be a much better place.
You must be the Drum Major for the Moral Preening Marching Band.
Nice post Brian, but really now “When there is a crisis, be it a natural disaster, war, terrorism, disease, famine or other calamity, only one country in the world is on speed dial: the United States.” is certainly a statement many can disagree with or put into perspective. Certainly going to war, oh yeah it’s speed dial city, of course for a country that has about 80% of its history fighting a war, and certainly terrorism the US really has gone fast to become a terrorist nation. Now getting out of a war, not so fast, getting rid of their torture camps, slow as molasses.
I like this chest thumping statement: “Americans immediately contribute money and volunteer their time to help. That is something you don’t see other countries of significant means do by comparison.” Just cause you don’t see it Brian don’t mean it’s not there, here let me elucidate:
One way that generosity can be calculated is by looking at the percentage of GDP that each country gives. This is lead by Northern Europe. Sweden gives the most as a percentage of GDP, at 1.12% following by Norway (1.06%), Luxembourg (1.01%), Denmark (0.88%), and the Netherlands (0.82%). In fact, all of the top nine are in Northern Europe, with all the Scandinavian countries, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The top non-European country in this list is Canada, which is only placed fourteenth, and donates less than one-third of a percent of their GPP (0.30%). Although the United States gives the most in the monetary amount, they only give 0.20% of their GDP and are 19th on the list. There you go Brian, you see lots of other countries that are more generous by than the US by comparison. Of course maybe not by your significant means but then again, these countries mentioned tend not to go out and boast and subdue others, though the UK might be an exception as they are happy enough to be a lap dog for the US.
I hope that the US can come to realize that war crimes against humanity, mass surveillance, torture, self-righteousness, and a blind disregard for others is not the way to go. The sad thing is that I really think they realize this, but continue there regressive de-evolution, still the world is a great place as long as there is the free and civilized world.
For someone so opinionated on the U.S. (I think you refer to it Amurderica or something idiotic like that) you are remarkably ignorant.
I suspect you got your charity donation numbers from national governments, which excludes private donations. It is true that the U.S. Government gives a generally smaller percentage relative to other developed countries. But your numbers likely leave out private donations, which are vast in the U.S. If you do a little research on this you’ll find that the people of the United States as individuals are one of the most generous in the world – far more generous than their European counterparts when you add it all up (must be shocking to you I know).
But you don’t want to know or acknowledge this because it doesn’t fit into you whacky narrative of the U.S. as greedy, narcissistic, terrorist nation.
I don’t know what happened to you as a child to make you so butt-hurt about the U.S. But you should really to learn more about what makes us tick as a nation instead of making general condemnations about an entire people who hail from every other country on the planet and bring with them vastly different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, and blend them into a truly unique nation with an imperfect yet proud history.
People like Road Warrior suffer from the oldest bad emotion in human history: Envy turned hatred.
Thanks for your post jwsc01, I’ll be happy to address some of your well made points.
First, yes I have referred to that country using the term you mentioned in your post. I don’t any more, and that is a result of feedback. It’s as idiotic as some of of the other derogatory names I’ve heard to others, but when it comes to americans it looks like they can dish it out but can’t take it, sure sign of a bully in my opinion.
I got my charity donation numbers from crossborderdirectory.org, a country by country contact list of professional advisers specialising in areas of relevance to charitable fundraising, international philanthropy, and planned giving. By all means feel free to contact them regarding the omission of private donors.
You blast away with a point of my ignorance, then go on that if I do a little research I’ll find that the people of the US as individuals are one of the most generous of the world, far more generous than European counterparts. Of course no reference given to illuminate my ignorance but I’m perfectly happy to do a little research on my own.
From the same site: “It is again mostly Northern European Countries at the top of the list of the average amount given to charity per citizen. Those from Luxembourg are the most generous, the only country whose citizens give on average more than $100 a year ($114). Norwegian’s give $96, with Swedes and the Irish given $66. Kuwaiti’s give on average $33. Those from the United Kingdom only give $17 a year each and American’s only $14, while German’s give $9.”
I’m not shocked by the results. The rest of your argument of course falls apart, and the idea that the u.s. is a greedy, narcissistic terrorist nation is not whacky at all as there are lots of facts to support it.
I’m not butt-hurt about the u.s. hey, it’s your free will. I would not be posting here if I did not think that the u.s. has the potential of getting their head out of their sun don’t shine orifice and rejoin the free and civilized world.
Oh and I won’t make any derogatory comments about your upbringing as a child, that’s just a sign of immaturity.
My main point to Brian was in reply to his comment “That is something you don’t see other countries of significant means do by comparison.” I think that there are lots of other countries that make a significant contribution and I’ve named some of them. Yes, I’ve said something nice about other countries. Sure is a rarity around here, but who knows maybe someday it will catch on.
Kind of funny how you leave out all of the things the U.S. pays for via sending our people, technology, machinery, and supplies directly to where it’s needed.
Back after the earthquake in Haiti, there was some Norwegian douchebag saying that the U.S. wasn’t helping very much because he read numbers stupidly – like you.
Meanwhile, there was one – ONE – hospital available to the Haitians. The U.S. hospital that is a gigantic hospital ship, with doctors, nurses, and personnel – ALL paid for by Americans. Yep.
There wasn’t a single other country that did this or was able to do it, and that was just a drop in the bucket of what we did. We sent logisticians and civil engineers and rescue teams – you name it. And none of that shows up on your damned expenditure sheet – you colossal shit-wit.
I think you should try to read my post again, I did quote a source that indicated the contribution by the u.s.
I’ll type it really slowly this time so that hopefully you’ll get it.
“Although the United States gives the most in the monetary amount, they only give 0.20% of their GDP and are 19th on the list.”
Got it? The Unites States gives the most in the monetary amount. That’s on the expenditure sheet. Like I said before, there are things to admire about the u.s., and china since the topic is partially that as well. The Chinese do more than just kill 50 million people and eat dog. There are things to admire about their “taste”, but I doubt I’ll hear any words of praise coming from you about the Chinese. That’s certainly not in your expenditure sheet.
I’ll leave the debate about war aside. That’s a third-rail discussion, regardless of your point of view. What I am interested in is compassion.
Your statistics are most interesting, and frankly, I’m not surprised that Northern European countries and Canada set an example. It speaks volumes about the nature of their people. Good for them. They set a great example.
One question, however: do the stats that you cite include only the percentage of GDP as donated via their governments, private citizens or both? That could skew the figures dramatically. Also, a percentage of GDP is one thing. The total charitable contributions in dollar (or other currency) figures is another way to look at it. Yes, I know. Statistics, statistics, statistics. But it’s a point worth considering.
I can only hope that the public outcry from the rest of the world will not fall on deaf ears in China. Its government can and must show leadership in not taking at its whim, like it is with natural resources in Africa, or intimidating its neighbors in the South China Sea by building islands to claim oil and mineral rights.
Instead, by showing no tolerance for being party to the illegal ivory trade, or ignoring the slaughter of innocent animals, from elephants to dogs and cats, the Chinese government can set an example to its people. We should expect no less.
The Indian Ocean Tsunami was another perfect example: even though this calamity took place in China’s back yard, the Chinese government barely lifted a finger to help its neighbors. By contrast, the US government made a significant contribution of food, medicine, machinery to clear the damage, set up mobile hospitals, and extensive efforts by the US Navy to be the first responders to an epic disaster. The contributions of individual citizens from the US and other western countries via the Red Cross is well documented. Yes, the US is affluent, and it should be expected that its government and people show compassion. But to see such a non-response from the Chinese government and its people is more than a little disappointing.
My point is simply this: I strongly believe that the greatness of a country is not measured by how many ICBMs and divisions of army troops you can put on parade on May 1, but in the heart and character of its people in a time of disaster. Instead of boasting of having the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, the largest stadium complexes for the next World Cup, or the tallest statue to a Supreme-Ruler-For-Life, I tip my cap to a nation whose people are focused instead on preserving and respecting human and animal life. Horrible examples of inhumane behavior like the Yulin Festival could be stopped with laws aimed at protecting animal life from wanton cruelty and destruction. To see that change, and I hope that we will, would be a sign of progress in a rapidly transforming nation.
Thank you so much for your insightful reply. Insofar as your question “do the stats that you cite include only the percentage of GDP as donated via their governments, private citizens or both?” I cannot answer directly, for the second case it looks like it is donations to charities. You would have to contact crossborderdirectory.org for details on their methodology.
You’ve commented on “statistics statistics statistics” and certainly there are all sorts of parameters and methodologies to consider. That was the issue I wanted to address with your main post, that there are countries that are very generous and do what they can. Sure one can isolate one country, the U.S. as you have done, but it is the team effort that makes the difference, and members of a team all make different and unique contributions. As an analogy, in sports there is no sense chastising goalies because they don’t score points, that’s not their goal (oh, I made a pun).
One thing about China is that it is an insular country historically. That’s changing, the whole world is changing, those who want to be insular (like China) will have trouble adjusting, and at the other end of the spectrum those that insist on being solo superstars (like the u.s.) will have the same challenges. It may be appropriate at times to indicate the short comings of a country, which I won’t do here at this point, but in the long term it is the team work that provides the synergy to propel humanity forward.
It just takes a small step, and you’ve made it: “I’m not surprised that Northern European countries and Canada set an example. It speaks volumes about the nature of their people. Good for them. They set a great example.”
You’ve just said something nice about other countries that are not your own (I gather you are from the U.S.). That’s a rarity here on MDN when it comes to other nations, and a breath of fresh air that I certainly appreciate. I salute you for that, it keeps my hope going. This is the sort of attitude that changes the world for the better.
It’s not just a single nation that needs to change, it’s all of them, it’s a global process.
Anyway that’s about it, going to be a skinny reply but feel free to keep the spirit of compassion going on another thread. Have a great day.
Ewwwww. Puppy eaters!
Hugging my dog. Telling him it’s worse than he knows out there.
Of course Apple considers Chinese tastes, that’s cause the Chinese have taste, and culture too. Not to mention class. It’s nice for Apple to expand it’s horizons when going into a new market with unfamiliar territory like that. I wish them continued success.
The Chinese have taste?
Well, for eating dogs anyway…
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150622/as–china-eating_dog-289f8060ed.html
And for eating a lot of other things as well. Chinese cuisine if well known around the world. Of course there are limitations for certain ingredients depending on the availability and legality of local ingredients. For example milk is not a common ingredient in traditional Chinese cuisine partly because pasturage for milk producers in a monsoon rice ecology is not economic.
That was of course not the usage of “taste” I was referring to but rather the sense of what is fitting, harmonious, or beautiful; the perception and enjoyment of what constitutes excellence in the fine arts, literature, fashion. Someone with taste would have recognized that.
I know perfectly well what you meant. It’s not my fault you take yourself to seriously and have no sense of humor.
Moreover, people who eat dogs and ingest tiger bone powder are tasteless and backward.
And by the way, I know a Chinese lady who grew up there and now – because of her business – spends half of every year in China and the other half in the States. She tells me all sorts of stories. Your admiration for the Chinese is unwarranted.
The Chinese killed 50 million of its own people, oh clueless one.
Of course you knew what I meant, you simply have engaged the american rules of thumb of debate:
1. Use smoke and mirror.
2. Insult the messenger.
3. Never ever address the main point.
The article is about Apple considering Chinese tastes in Apple products, colors and design. Rather than address that main point you and others have used another definition of taste to insult others and continue to do so with this post.
I’m sure that a trip to certain parts of China would be as enjoyable as spending a few years at one of the american torture camps, say Guatanamo Bay. Yet there are things to admire about both the Chinese as well as the americans.
The americans killed 750,000 of it’s own people oh equally clueless one, or perhaps you knew that already and decided to omit it, in order to protect your over inflated supermegaoversized ego. Either way, it’s hilarious.
Good grief, you’re sick.
All I did was make a joke the first time, and you flipped out. (I guess that was the “smoke and mirrors” part.)
The second time I merely commented on your lacking any sense of humor, plus which I told you why you were wrong about the Chinese (I guess that was the “not addressing the main point” part.)
I’m sorry you’re jealous of Americans, and frankly I can’t blame you, but it’s not my fault you live in an inferior country. Besides, inferior countries are where inferior people belong. That’s why you’re there.
Oh the irony of being called sick coming from someone from a torturing nation. Oh well, being sick these days is far better than being called an american.
And the jealous card, oh gosh if I had a nickel for every time that card of desparation was pulled out on me, I’d be richer than what I am. Yes I have to admit I come from an inferior country. We don’t torture people, don’t have all those guns and weapons you do, not involved in any war crimes, heck we don’t even invade other countries on a whim, no slavery in our history that I know of, and darn, we respect the white flag when it’s raised. Of course it’s so very easy to call every country but the u.s. inferior, but that’s why you are there, that’s where the megalomaniacs belong.
I’m still laughing.
What color and design considerations do you use to commemorate 50 million Chinese starved to death during “The Great Leap Forward” by the world’s most lethal left-winger? Let’s see, maybe we could have some phones in Mao Tse Tung red.
I feel sorry for you american
living in the country of racism, prisons, guns and fat people
25% of the worlds prison population is in the US.
you love war and you spend more on weapons then the rest of the world combined and you have been at war with someone for your entire history, even yourselves.
No one admires the USA in the rest of the world but you don’t realise that do you American?
To tell you the truth – Road Warrior – I’ve never understood why envious foreigners go out of their way to pretend that they’re not jealous of America and Americans, since neither I nor any American I know would ever care about the opinions of inferior people.
I’m not radio by the way, but hey I do like your usage of that “aim for Bin Laden hit Saddam Hussein” guidance system.
The u.s. hasn’t been at war all the time, there is about 20% of their history on a per year basis where they have been at peace. It’s not much but it’s something.
Nice post by the way, thanks.
Can we expect to be seeing a gold anodized Watch Sport? Apple would have to front the cost of an entire new Watch assembly factory just to make them.