China’s pressure on Apple politically motivated: FT

Apple’s groveling apology to China over supposed problems with warranty and customer service, reported yesterday in the Financial Times, is being read by some analysts as a bare-knuckled move by the Communist Party to show Western companies who’s boss.

“Apple is in a very sensitive position because it has such a powerful appeal to Chinese consumers and that makes the Chinese government nervous,” Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA, told The Financial Times. “Any momentum in society that isn’t directed by the Communist party or is difficult for it to control is unnerving.”

Clark adds that “[t]he symbolism of Apple is very powerful and it could be that this attack is being used as a message to all western companies that they must pay tribute to the government and co-operate.”

Read more here.

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Staff

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