“Apple Inc.Chief Executive Tim Cook plans to visit Beijing later this month to meet high-level government officials, at a time when it is facing some setbacks in its most important overseas market, a source familiar with the matter said,” Matthew Miller reports for Reuters.
“Cook has frequently traveled to China since taking the helm of Apple five years ago, but his latest visit comes during a critical period,” Miller reports. “From weakening smartphone sales to the loss of an iPhone trademark dispute and the suspension of some of its online entertainment services, the U.S. technology giant has been facing a flurry of problems in recent weeks in its second-largest market after the United States.”
“During his China visit, Cook plans to meet senior government and Communist Party leaders – including officials in charge of propaganda, said the source, who declined to be named as the plan is not public yet,” Miller reports. “Apple’s online book and film services were shut in China last month, cutting off a potential source of income, following Beijing’s introduction of regulations in March imposing strict curbs on online publishing, particularly for foreign firms.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: 读万卷书不如行万里路
化干戈为玉帛
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Cook ‘pretty confident’ of soon resuming movie and book sales in China – May 3, 2016
Apple’s biggest China problem: iPhone’s strong encryption – May 2, 2016
The New Yorker: What Apple has to fear from China – April 30, 2016
Why Carl Icahn is wrong about Apple and China – April 29, 2016
Carl Icahn out of Apple over worries about China’s ‘dictatorship’ government – April 29, 2016
Apple stock falls as Carl Icahn dumps all of his shares – April 29, 2016
Carl Icahn dumps all of his Apple shares; stock drops – April 28, 2016
Apple reports earnings miss in Q216 – April 26, 2016
China could slam door on Apple, says top global risk expert – April 25, 2016
China’s increasing censorship hits Apple, but Apple might punch back – April 22, 2016
China shutters Apple’s online book and movie services – April 22, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook joins Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ board of directors – April 6, 2016
More like Tim Cook summoned to China to obey his Chinese masters.
Maybe you’re right, but I’m dubious. Tim Cook stood up to the US Department of Justice and the FBI. Why would he cave in to Chinese pressure? Because he values the Chinese market more than the US market? Because Apple has factories in China? Apple has some leverage of their own. They could close those factories, exacerbating China’s economic woes. And if their iPhones were embargoed by the Chinese government, everone knows that smuggling and black markets would simply increase, cutting out the Government’s share.
Looks like this is the meeting where the Chinese tell Tim Cook to give them a back door to Apple products sold in China.
And Tim says, “Okay.”
A long time ago, when IBM sold their PC business to what became Lenovo, I stopped looking at their products. The chatter would not stop that Lenovo had tricked up the machines.