Serious escalating conflict between Apple and Chinese government

[Dari]

Apparently, the Chinese say Apple treats them worse when it comes to dealing with warranty issues compared to the United States. Now, the full might of the Chinese government is onboard to knock Apple down a peg or two. It looks like all that kow-towing Tim Cook did by visiting China on several occasions was for naught.

link

China orders stepped-up scrutiny on Apple
TECHNOLOGY MAR. 29, 2013 - 02:00PM JST ( 5 )BEIJING —
Apple is to face “strengthened supervision” from China’s consumer watchdog, state media reported Friday, as the U.S. computer giant faces a barrage of negative publicity in China.

The country is Apple’s second-biggest market, and its iPhones and other products—many of them made in the country—are highly popular, although it faces fierce competition from South Korea’s Samsung.

State media have carried a series of attacks against Apple, with the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, running critical items for five consecutive days over alleged double standards in customer service and returns policies.

Apple has denied those accusations in statements to Chinese media but in one of its commentaries the newspaper urged consumers to “strike away Apple’s unparalleled arrogance.”

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) has asked trading standards bodies across the country to step up “contract supervision” on electronics manufacturers “such as Apple,” the People’s Daily said Friday.

“Local governments are required to… investigate and punish illegal activities in accordance with the law,” it quoted the SAIC as saying in an official note.

An SAIC spokesman who declined to be named confirmed the existence of the document to AFP but declined to disclose details on the grounds it was for internal circulation.

The People’s Daily articles follow reports on state broadcaster CCTV, but users of China’s Twitter-like weibos have been split, with some backing Apple and saying state-owned Chinese firms were more deserving of targeting for poor service.

No-one from Apple’s China office was available for comment Friday.

The California-based company has also been embroiled in legal disputes in China over alleged intellectual property rights infringement.

Apple appeared in a Shanghai court on Wednesday accused by a Chinese firm of infringing its patent for voice recognition software used for the iPhone’s “Siri” personal assistant.

And on Friday Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper said a state-owned Shanghai animation film studio had sued Apple in a Beijing court for allegedly selling its movies without approval, seeking compensation of 3.3 million yuan ($530,000).

The court did not respond to a request for comment from AFP Friday, while the film studio declined to do so.

The legal challenges come after Apple last year paid $60 million to Chinese computer maker Shenzhen Proview Technology to settle a long-running dispute over the “iPad” trademark, whose ownership was claimed by both companies.

 

[2timer]

Watch out for these one-sided media reports. Judging from the large amount of negative press you'd think that the central Chinese government is 100% against them, but all they have officially said is the warranty practices were needing improvement, which, in fairness, is true.

 

[khha4113]

Watch out for these one-sided media reports. Judging from the large amount of negative press you'd think that the central Chinese government is 100% against them, but all they have officially said is the warranty practices were needing improvement, which, in fairness, is true.

No, it's just the way Chinese government tries to get back at US for giving out warning about Huawei and ZTE.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-panel-warns-huawei-zte-2012-10

In fact, Apple's warranty is better than Chinese law required.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/28/business/china-apple-editorial/

Apple also says it provides a 90-day guarantee on repairs, which is three times longer than required under Chinese law.​

 

[Dari]

No, it's just the way Chinese government tries to get back at US for giving out warning about Huawei and ZTE.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-panel-warns-huawei-zte-2012-10

In fact, Apple's warranty is better than Chinese law required.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/28/business/china-apple-editorial/

That could be. But one problem I read a couple of days ago is that Chinese law requires the merchant to issue a new product if they cannot fix the problem. Instead, Apple replaces the broken item with refurb item and takes a case or something else from the broken item, puts it on the new one and calls it a day.

 

[dawheat]

http://www.ibtimes.com/rotten-apple...h-company-netizens-say-chinese-firms-are-just

It'd be interesting to see real users' comparisons of warranty experiences between Apple and local companies like ZTE and Huawei in China. Somehow I think it'd be a pretty good bet that Apple is going to look pretty good by local standards.

Still - instead of Apple playing down to local competition, it would have been nice to see them establish global warranty standards.

 

[Dari]

http://www.ibtimes.com/rotten-apple...h-company-netizens-say-chinese-firms-are-just

It'd be interesting to see real users' comparisons of warranty experiences between Apple and local companies like ZTE and Huawei in China. Somehow I think it'd be a pretty good bet that Apple is going to look pretty good by local standards.

Still - instead of Apple playing down to local competition, it would have been nice to see them establish global warranty standards.

Thanks for that article. I wonder what's going on with the Chinese government. One minute they laud what you're doing in their country, the next minute they put out their propaganda machine against you. It's weird how they operate. They are two-faced.

 

[KentState]

China will need Apple less over time in general. They will have enough citizens and manufacturing capacity to satisfy their internal needs without having to in-source labor for other countries. I would venture to say that in 5-10 years, American companies will be looking to Africa and other countries to build their electronics.

 

[lothar]

Watch out for these one-sided media reports. Judging from the large amount of negative press you'd think that the central Chinese government is 100% against them, but all they have officially said is the warranty practices were needing improvement, which, in fairness, is true.

Umm...Xinhua news is the official mouthpiece of the Chinese government.
This isn't an issue of FOX/MSNBC news, Dailymail, BGR, or some Hollywood magazine reporting crap.
Xinhua news is the Chinese government.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I can tell you this anti-Apple campaign is backfiring hard. People there are far more pissed with government-linked companies since in their eyes those are a million times worse than Apple.

Their government is one that can quietly do an OK job, but choose to do a bad one and flaunt it to everyone while at it.

 

[jpeyton]

Round 1 goes to the Chinese government: http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...4ae4bc-9ae4-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Tim Cook continues his legacy of apologies.

 

[isekii]

why do they need the iphone when they have the goophone.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Round 1 goes to the Chinese government: http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...4ae4bc-9ae4-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

Tim Cook continues his legacy of apologies.

Okay I know you hate Apple and all that and all your posts are pretty much biased beyond belief, but let's read the link you posted:

provide new replacement devices for users under its 1-year warranty rather than simply replacing bad parts.

WTF? So China was complaining that people got refurbished parts, which is pretty much standard replacement policy in many industries, and now Apple has to replace with brand new iPhones?