Apple has always considered the Chinese market important to its success. A huge army of potential consumers and a large factory for assembling devices – this country combines all this. Therefore, it is quite logical that Apple tried to appease and please the Chinese authorities; so that nothing would threaten the well-being of Cupertino. There were also those who believe that the company is unnecessarily groveling in front of the Chinese authorities.
Recently it became that Apple’s success in China has its price, not least due to the favorable climate that was avaialble for the company not without the participation of the Chinese authorities. It turned out that five years ago, Tim Cook personally visited China; in order to sign a five-year agreement with the government of this country in the amount of $ 275 billion. This allowed to end the aggressive actions of Chinese regulators, which could seriously complicate the company’s life in this country.
The thing is that at that time the Chinese government blocked the work of iBooks and iTunes Movies in China; the company had problems using the iPhone trademark, sales of Apple devices went down sharply in this country; and this turned into a fall by almost 10 % of Apple stock value.
Apple helped boost China’s economy in response to business preferences
Gizchina News of the week
Under the terms of a bilateral agreement between Apple and the Chinese government, the Cupertino company has a commitment to helping China’s economy and technology advance. In particular, the company agreed to help the Chinese create “the most advanced technologies”, use more components produced in the Middle Kingdom in their products, invest in Chinese companies, train talented engineers and cooperate with software developers in China.
Apple has also committed to helping set up R&D centers in China, opening retail stores, and investing in a renewable energy project. Experts agree that the company has fulfilled its obligations and its investments have paid off with interest.
In separate news, according to some recent reports, the iPhone assembly line has been shut down for the first time in over a decade, according to Nikkei. The assembly of the iPhone and iPad “has been stopped for several days; due to supply chain and electricity restrictions in China”; according to several sources familiar with the situation.
Nikkei writes that Apple’s production typically goes on overtime this week to meet global demand during the holiday shopping season; but instead of giving workers extra shifts and switching to a 24-hour production schedule, they have free time.
